According to the reports issued by the Agriculture Ministry that by extending the drought conditions it has affected about 418,000 hectares of rice fields in Indonesia. Further, the drought condition has damaged about 148,749 hectares of cultivated rice area mostly in West Java, Central Java and South Sulawesi, as stated by the Agricultural Ministry’s Director General for Food Crops. It has also been narrated that since, it is likely that there may be a reduction in this year’s rice output, so the government has decided to import rice in order to maintain an adequate stocks and to curb price hikes too.
Indian Queen Basmati Rice
In this context, the President described to the reporters that the government has secured rice imports from Vietnam and Thailand and which can be shipped to Indonesia whenever required. It has been revealed that the government would decide about shipping rice from overseas based on the weather condition in the last week of October. As per report, the government has signed import agreement for one million tons of rice from Vietnam. However, it is not clear about agreements with Thailand. Further, in this regard, during last month, the Vice-President has hinted that Indonesia would require about 1.5 million tons of rice imports to maintain its adequate stocks and to protect the prices as well.