Bali To Open 7,000 Hectares Of Soybean Plantations

Denpasar, Bali, Sept 17 (Antara) - The food crop farming service of Bali said it has a target to open 7,000 hectares of soybean plantations this year. Realization until July, however, has reached only 57 percent or 4,000 hectares, the service chief, Ida Bagus Wisnuardana, said here on Tuesday. Wisnuardana, however expressed optimism the target could be reached in the remaining months of the year. The government has encourage expansion of soybean plantations to reduce the country`s dependence on imports for the food commodity . The rupiah fall against the US dollar has resulted in soaring price of imported goods including soybean triggering public furor criticizing the government. Producers of soybean cake and curd protested by staging three day strike condemning the government as non competent. On Tuesday, Wisnuardana said production of soybean grown as second crop has declined over the past ten years in Bali . In the past three years soybean plantations in the province shrank from 9,000 hectares to 7,000 hectares on seasonal factor resulting in the decline in production. Too much rain which is not good for soybean discouraged farmers from growing the crop, Wisnuardana said, adding growing rice is more profitable. Bali has 81.744 hectares of farm lands in 8 regencies used to grow rice and second crops including soybean. The provincial administration offers incentives in the form of subsidized seeds and fertilizers for soybean farmers. The price of high-yield seed variety of soybean is Rp9,800 per kilogram on the market but it is sold at Rp3,096 per kg to farmers. The farmers are also offered an assistance of 100 kg of NPK fertilizer and 500 kg of organic fertilizer each With the high quality seeds and fertilizers, the farmers have succeeded in improving their productivity from 1.3 tons per hectare to 2 tons, Wisnuardana said.