AGRICULTURE MINISTER PLANTS PADDY IN SOUTHEAST SULAWESI

Kolaka, Southeast Sulawesi, Feb. 14 (ANTARA) - Agriculture Minister Anton Apriyanto symbolically planted paddy of the Konawe variety at Karandu village, Wawotobi sub ditrict, Konawe District, on Friday.

The minister told local farmers on the occasion, Indonesia was known abroad for her hard-working farmers and thus the Indonesian government was committed to helping farmers by providing them with seeds and production facilities.
Accompanied by Southeast Sulawesi Governor Nur Alam, the minister later held a dialog with the farmers.
Konawe District Head Lukman Abunawas said his region had 95,581 hectares of rice farming land but only 26,800 hectares were actually planted with paddy plants.
Indonesia's rice production target for 2009 is 47 million tons or 63 million tons of dry unhulled paddy.