Tidal land to increase National Soybean Production
The shortage of soybeans for the production of tofu and tempe began to be felt in Indonesia in 2008, and recurred in 2012 and 2013. The soybean price rises from IDR 6,500 per kilogram to IDR 10 thousand per kilogram, and the supply is so limited that many tofu-tempe makers stop their productions. Then the Government increases its import to meet its need.
The Government through the Ministry of Agriculture is working to increase the capacity of local soybean production. However, it has not apparently realized due to limited land in the country.
"Over the last six years, the agricultural land has decreased by 0.06 percent," said Head of Main Office of Plant Pest Forecasting, Ministry of Agriculture, Sarsito Wahono Gaib Subroto in the discussion titled ‘Opportunities and Challenges of National Soybean Development’ held Indonesian Young Entrepreneurs Association (HIPMI ) in Jakarta, Thursday (19/9).
In addition, the development of local soybean is also constrained by a low productivity of farmers. It is triggered by local soybean prices that are not competitive and cheap. "For the last three years, production has declined because the price makes them discouraged to plant soybeans," said Gaib.
This situation is detrimental to farmers if it runs continuously, as it will reduce the competitiveness of local soybean prices. Therefore, it is necessary to make efforts to ensure the supply of soybean by increasing the production in the country through the expansion of planting land.
The issue of increasingly narrow planting area has basically been solved, according to the soybean expert of Bogor Agricultural University (IPB), Prof. Dr. Ir Munif Ghulamahdi. According to his studies, the addition of the planting area should be directed to the outside Java, that is, to sub-optimal land, one of which is tidal land.
Prof. Munif said, tidal land area in Indonesia is around 20.1 million hectares, 9.53 million hectares of which is potential for farmland, and 2 million hectares is suitable for growing soybeans. The low productivity of soybean on tidal land has been due to the conventional technology of cultivation which cannot cope with the high levels of chemical compounds: pyrite, aluminum (Al), iron (Fe), and manganese (Mn) and low content of phosphorus (P) and Potassium (K). "With the saturated water technology of cultivation, the content of pyrite can reduced, "he said.
According to him, the saturated water cultivation is a method of soybean planting by continuous irrigation from planting to harvest, with the water surface remaining the same so that the water layer below the roots become water-saturated. The depth of water level in the channel is 20 centimeters from the ground to provide consistently high productivity of Tanggamus varieties for five years of 4.63 tons per hectare. This has been carried out in the village of Banyu Urip, Tanjung Lago District, Banyu Asin Regency, South Sumatra Province since the year 2009-2013 and also in the village of Harjosari, Braja Selabah District, East Lampung Regency, Lampung Province from 2012-2013. "This research activity involved S1, S2 and S3 students who were placed on fields from land preparation until harvest," he said.
Prof. Munif also said, the condition of transmigration areas on the tidal land is suitable for the mass development of BJA (saturated water) technology to improve high productivity of soybean. The average national soybean productivity is only 1.3 tons per hectare and in the study of BJA tidal land, it can reach 4.63 tons per hectare.
"The Tanggamus variety with the productivity of around 4.63 tons per hectare in the research on the tidal lands of BJA, after disseminated directly to farmers, its productivity drops to 60 percent of the results obtained by the research, or 2.7 tons per hectare. If in 2015 Indonesia needs 2.4 million tons of soybeans with national production 0.7 million tons, then there is the shortage of 1.7 million tons. This shortage can be met by cultivating tidal land of 630 thousand hectares. The support of high-quality soybean seeds is required; with the need for 50 kilograms of seed per hectare, it is necessary to supply 31.5 thousand tons of soybean seeds. It is necessary to have additional breeders of seed in each province on tidal land with the system "JABALSIM " (Seed Line between Fields and between Seasons)," he said.
The discussion, which invited some resource persons: Sarsito Wahono Gaib Subroto (Head of Main Office of Plant Pest Forecasting, Ministry of Agriculture), Dr. Munif Ghulamahdi (Soybean Researcher of IPB), and Johanda Fadil (Secretary General of the Indonesian Tofu-Tempe Producers Association), was moderated by Afan Anugroho. (Mtd)
