With its high rate of growth, high yield and low water consumption, the potato has become the world's fourth major food crop in the world, but its prospects in Indonesia face many challenges, a representative for Indonesia's chapter of the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) says
While speaking at a seminar help by the UN's FAO in Jakarta on Wednesday, ManHo So said certain challenges, related to the vegetable's biology and planting requirements, had to be overcome to achieve its potential in the country.
So said potatoes only grew well in cool environments, meaning plantations would be restricted to Indonesia's highlands, mainly in Java, Papua and North Sumatra.
Ahmad Dimyati, director general of horticulture for the ministry of agriculture, told the seminar plantation opportunities were limited by competition for land with newly-built residences and plantations of other crops of higher value, including flowers and fruits.
The government also discourages plantations on hillsides due to the risk of land erosion.
Total potato plantation area in the country dropped from 66,000 hectares in 2000 to 62,000 hectares in 2006, or less than 3 percent of the total area for rice paddy fields.
