REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, JAKARTA - The Chairman of Commission IV in House of Representatives, Romahurmuziy, urges the government to increase the area of soybean field due to local soybean crisis that causes the skyrocketing price.

"Government must regulate soybean trade system to stimulate farmers to grow more soybeans. Do not let the soybean price follow the mechanism of international market because it causes our dependence on import," he said on Friday.

The national soybean production is decreasing from 1.4 million tonnes in 1990 to 851,000 tonnes while the consumption reaches 2.4 million tonnes in 2011. With the average productivity on 1.368 tonnes per hectare in 2011, Indonesian farmers cannot compete with US production.

"The farmers are not interested in growing soybean because the profit is less than other commodities. Moreover, the price of soybean import is cheaper," he said.

To create the food security, he suggests the government to hold a program on the expansion of soybean field outside the Java Island. Based on the calculation, Indonesia needs at least 1.25 million hectare of soybean field with the productivity on 2 tonnes per hectare.

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