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Jakarta: Indonesia plans to spend six trillion rupiah ($651 million) this year to provide farmers with rice seeds, including high-yielding hybrid varieties, to boost output, Vice President Jusuf Kalla said on Saturday.
Authorities in Indonesia have been trying to take measures to cushion the impact of soaring food prices, particularly for the staple rice, amid concerns over social cohesion in the world's fourth most populous country.
"The use of hybrid rice should continue, so we will be able to meet demand," Kalla was quoted by the state Antara news agency as saying. The amount allocated this year is triple last year's budget.
Indonesia has long sought to become self-sufficient in rice, but experts say this has been hampered by a lack of high-yield seeds and fertiliser.
The government also planned to allocate 11 trillion rupiah ($1.2 billion) this year to subsidise fertiliser prices, said Kalla.
He said that by lifting output Indonesia could go some way to becoming a rice exporter.
For decades, Indonesia has been importing rice as output has not been sufficient to meet spikes in demand during disasters or when crops fail.
Indonesian rice production is expected to be more than 34 million tonnes this year, or about two million tonnes higher than domestic demand.
Many Asian countries are looking for ways to address a near tripling in the price of the world benchmark, Thai 100 per cent B grade wide rice, which was triggered when exporting nations curbed shipments to cool domestic inflation.
Indonesia has also started to crack down on rice smuggling along its borders, Trade Minister Mari Pangestu said, and is providing temporary subsidies for the poor, equivalent to 50,000 rupiah ($5.43) a month.
Indonesia is considered one of the Asian nations most at risk of social unrest if food prices continue to soar. Riots broke out in 1998 during Indonesia's financial crisis, leading to the overthrow of former President Suharto, while cuts in subsidies sparked protests in a country where millions live on less than $2 a day.
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