Ministry of Agriculture Prepares 40 Percent of National Hybrid Corn Seed Needs

By : Wiyanto Dan Aldo Bella Putra | Thursday, June 07 2018 - 18:30 IWST

Menteri Pertanian Amran Sulaiman panen jagung (Foto Dok Industry.co.id)

INDUSTRY.co.id - Jakarta - The government is targeting corn production of 33.13 million tons in 2025. This target means an increase of 40.5% compared to production achievements in 2016. To achieve the target, the Ministry of Agriculture (Kementan) through the Agency for Agricultural Research and Development (Balitbangtan) will prepare 40% of the national hybrid corn seed requirement.

Head of Center for Food Crops Research and Development (Puslitbangtan) Moh. Ismail Wahab revealed that to increase productivity, farmers must use the national hybrid corn seed. Currently, the use of hybrid corn seed seed is still low so that the productivity of maize in Indonesia is also not high.

"Approximately 44% or 1.95 million ha of farmers' land still use composite corn seeds with low productivity. The productivity level is 3.32 - 5.31 ton per hectare or 30 - 70% lower than hybrid corn that reaches 8.02-10.31 ton per hectare. Hybrid corn seed is indeed more expensive about 5 times compared to the price of composite corn seeds, "said Ismail in Jakarta, Thursday (7/6/2018).

The Ministry of Agriculture has produced about 29 varieties of hybrid corn with a potential consumption of 13.6 tons per hectare. To produce the hybrid seedlings (BR), the Balitbangtan cooperates with licenses to acquire partners who act as producers.

Ismail explained that in order to accelerate and increase the adoption of hybrid corn varieties, Kementan provides subsidized seed subsidy of hybrid corn variety as much as 40 percent or about 1,120,122 hectares from the total of 3 million hectares of maize area received government assistance.

"From the area of 1.1 million hectares it takes about 16 million kilograms of corn seeds. Our hope, this hybrid corn seed can replace the composite corn such as varieties Arjuna, Bisma, Lamuru, and Sukmaraga are still a favorite of farmers, "said Ismail.

In addition to improving maize productivity, the development of hybrid corn seeds is also based on the need for seeds that can be used in suboptimal land. To that end, Balitbangkan developed a hybrid corn seed which can also be developed in dry land outside Java.

"With the target of production in 2025 reaching 33 million tons, the target of 2025 maize cultivation area is boosted to about 5.88 million hectares or 32.4% increase compared to corn harvest year 2