BOGOR (JP): Vice President Megawati
Soekarnoputri expressed concern over the
decreasing number of rice fields in much of the
farming land in the country, such as in the areas
between Kerawang and Bekasi in West Java, as many
of them have been converted into golf courses.
"Even the colonists never touched those
areas that are the main source of rice for the
country. We are even worse than they were because
we turn productive land to golf courses,"
Megawati said on Friday.
The Vice President was addressing the
declaration of 2001 Food Resilience Movement at
the Bogor Palace.
Megawati said that she had asked the National
Land Agency (BPN) to collect data on rice fields
across the country and complete the necessary
mapping with local authorities as soon as
possible.
"Sometimes, I become so upset because
every time I ask the extent of our rice fields,
how many have been lost, the officials always give
the answer that they do not have the number,"
Megawati remarked.
She further underlined that for the past four
decades, the country had reduced the meaning of
food resilience to only rice fulfillment, despite
the fact that many Indonesians cannot afford to
eat rice as their staple diet.
"The increase in rice consumption has
created difficulties in rice provision," she
said.
Minister of Agriculture and Forestry Bungaran
Saragih, Minister of Transportation and
Telecommunications Agum Gumelar, Junior Minister
for Forestry Marzuki Usman and Indonesian Farmers
Association Chairman Siswono Yudhohusodo also
attended the venue. (21/dja)
