The village of Gowa in the South Sulawesi province of Indonesia has an agrarian history that dates back to the fourteenth century – an agricultural prominence it still maintains, in part due to the top-grade fertile soil in the region. In fact, the area is now serving as a centre for the introduction of new mutant rice varieties that owe their existence to nuclear technology. Through the combined expertise of the National Nuclear Energy Agency of Indonesia (BATAN), the Joint FAO/IAEA Division and PB Salewangang, a certified seed breeding company, 18 Gowa farmers have planted their land exclusively with six new mutant rice varieties. But these farmers aren’t growing the new varieties as a food crop. They are using BATAN’s breeder seed material in their fields for seed multiplication. Once multiplied, PB Salewangang distributes seeds to other farmers interested in planting the new varieties to take advantage of their improved yield and quality.
Although Indonesia is the world’s third largest grower of rice, it still must import rice almost every year, mainly to keep reserves at a safe level. The main reasons for the gap can be traced to farmers using non-optimal production techniques and to the fact that each person in the country consumes an average 150 kg of rice per year – an extremely high consumption rate. In addition, smallholder farmers, with less than 0.8 ha of land, account for 90 percent of Indonesia’s rice production and so cannot take advantage of economies of scale in their production. Indonesia encourages technological innovation in its goal of reaching self-sufficiency in rice production.
Indonesia encourages technological innovation in its goal of reaching self-sufficiency in rice production. In addition to promoting improved rice infrastructure, including irrigation planning, it also supports the plant mutation breeding work of the National Nuclear Energy Agency of Indonesia (BATAN). BATAN has a long history of success, breeding crop varieties that bring higher yields to meet the needs of Indonesian farmers. Now, it is expanding this success – still breeding for yield but also focusing on specific quality parameters, meaning that it seeks varieties that have the taste and texture that consumers are increasingly looking for.