MATARAM ~

Bali Provincial Government is determined to optimize the agricultural sector in order to achieve the target of food self-sufficiency by 2017.

“Nusa Tenggara Barat (NTB) Province has implemented food self-sufficiency while Bali still plans to achieve it by 2017,” said Head of Public Relations of Bali Provincial Government I Ketut Sukra Negara in comparative study of Bali Government Bureau of Public Relations in Mataram, West Nusa Tenggara, on Thursday.

One of the efforts to optimize it is by looking at the agricultural success in NTB which is successfully developing ‘gogo rancah’ farming system on dry land.

In addition, said Sukra, his party also will be focused on the development of human resources in the field of agriculture.

“So far, human resources in Bali are largely focused on tourism. In the future it should be focused on human resources in agriculture,” he said.

Of comparative studies in the neighboring provinces of NTB, it was found that the island is even now in a surplus in food commodities. Rice, corn and soybeans are produced nationally in two large islands in NTB, Lombok and Sumbawa.

Head of the Department of Agriculture and Horticulture of NTB, Haji Mokhlis explained that during 2014, the province is amounted to 761.006 tons of surplus rice which are distributed to a number of areas including Bali, East Java and East Nusa Tenggara.

Central Statistics Agency (BPS) of Bali Province recorded a total production of rice or dried paddy (DUP) in 2014 reached 857.944 tons.

The number was decreased by 2.74 percent, or about 24.148 tons due to drought in 2013.

The rice supply not only meets the needs of about four million people in Bali but also domestic and foreign tourists.

So the island is still dependent on rice production areas from NTB and Java.

Meanwhile those two neighboring provinces are also facing the same critical problem such as the limited or damaged irrigation and land conversion.

Bali experienced about 750 to 1,000 hectares of land conversion per year due to the rapid development of the tourism sector.

Related to the limited irrigation channel on the island, mostly due to underground water in Bali is used mostly by the tourism sector.