Kuala Lumpar, May 12 - Indonesia plans to set aside 1 million hectares (2.5 million acres) for additional rice production, Indonesian Agriculture Minister Anton Apriyantono told reporters in Malaysia on Monday.
The minister said on the sidelines of a conference that Indonesian rice output was expected to total 65 million tonnes this year and that there were no plans to import rice supplies.
Indonesia has previously estimated its unmilled rice output to rise 5 percent in 2008 to 59.9 million tonnes.
Indonesia has been struggling to increase rice production, the main staple for its population of 226 million people, as it lacks good-quality seeds and faces intense competition for land and a shortage of fertiliser.