Where Was the 2018 National Rice Barn?

The Central Statistics Agency (BPS) has released data on rice harvest area and production in Indonesia, incorporating improved production calculations using the Area Sample Frame (ASF) method. Using this new method, the production of milled dry paddy rice (GKG) from January to September 2018 reached 49.57 million tons from 9.54 million hectares of harvested land. Provinces on the island of Java still dominate rice production in the country.

Rice production in six provinces on Java reached 28.08 million tons, or 56% of total national rice production. In fact, three provinces in Java – East Java, Central Java, and West Java – are ranked among the top national rice barns, with production of 9.31 million tons, 8.75 million tons, and 8.1 million tons respectively. Outside Java, the provinces with the largest rice production are South Sulawesi and South Sumatra, at 5.13 million tons and 2.49 million tons respectively.

Inaccuracies in rice production data have long been suspected by many, dating back to 1997. Therefore, starting in 2015, improvements were made to the new production calculation methodology. BPS, in collaboration with the Agency for the Assessment and Application of Technology (BPPT), the Geospatial Information Agency (BIG), and other institutions, has worked to improve the calculation of land area and rice production using the ASF method. This survey established the basic rice paddy land area at 7.1 million hectares. BPS also estimates that the harvested land area this year will reach 10.9 million hectares, with GKG rice production reaching 56.54 million tons. This rice production, when converted to rice, reaches 32.42 million tons.