JAKARTA, June 23 (Xinhua) -- The Indonesian government expects to stop importation of corn within the next two years as it attempts to extend the plantation area, a minister disclosed here on Thursday.
Indonesian Agriculture Minister Amran Sulaiman said that he was upbeat over the success of the program, so that the country could achieve corn-self-sufficiency in 2018.
In the first six months this year, the country's corn import decreased by 47 percent to 800,000 ton on year, Minister Sulaiman said.
"Should the decline of import be able to maintained, we can reach a self sufficiency in the next 2 years," he said at Serpong town.
For this year, the government targets to extend the corn plantation area by 1 million hectares, according to him.
As part of the plantation-extension program, growers will combine the planting of corn with palm oil, Minister Sulaiman added.
Indonesia is the world's largest producer and exporter of palm oil.
Indonesia's corn production reached 20 million ton last year and the country expects to rise the production to 24 million tons this year, according to agriculture ministry.
Indonesia's poultry industry requires over 8 million tons of corn per year, it has said.
