He said during his visit, on the occasion of participating in the 31st United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) RegionalConference for Asia-Pacific, he worked with Vietnamese Minister ofAgriculture and Rural Development Cao Duc Phat over food securityrelated projects in Vietnam .
Indonesia isready to cooperate with Vietnam in researching and developing somehybrid rice varieties, Suswono said, adding that Vietnam has greatpotential and rich experience in agriculture, highlighting its positionamong top world rice exporters.
Suswono expressedhis admiration toward Vietnam in harvesting as many as threeabundant crops from a total area of 4.3 million ha per year, producing10 million tonnes of rice annually. Meanwhile, Indonesia , with totalcultivation area of 8 million ha, only harvests two crops per year withan average yield of 5.1 tonnes per hectare and has to import more thanone million tonnes of rice every year.
TheIndonesian Minister said he hopes that through cooperation with Vietnamin developing new rice varieties, Indonesia can increase its riceoutput to 9-10 tonnes per hectare per year, fulfilling the country’starget of ensuring domestic food security and exporting 10 milliontonnes of rice annually by 2015.
Indonesia also cooperates with Cambodia and Myanmar in the area of food, he said.-VNA