Illustrative image (Source: AFP/VNA)Indonesia is likely to import rice given the El Nino weather phenomenon is causing crop failures in some areas in the country, Vice President Jusuf Kalla has said.
According to the official, Indonesia’s rice outputs may not meet the demand of the 250 million people nationwide, which is traditionally 2.5 to 3 million tonnes per year while the national rice reserve is only 1.5 million tonnes.
Over 200,000 hectares of rice fields across the country are suffering from water shortages due to the prolonged dry season and harvest is lost on 30,000 hectares, according to the Indonesian Agricultural Ministry.
To cope with the situation, the Government has created artificial rains and distributed hundreds of pumps to water drought-hit areas.
El Nino severely impacted Indonesia in 1998, and the country had to import 5 million tonnes of food that year.-VNA
