The Jakarta Post, Jakarta | Archipelago | Sun, September 21 2014, 11:40 PM
http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2014/09/21/papua-develop-sweet-potatoes-staple-food.html
The Papua provincial administration plans to develop the production of sweet potatoes as a staple food in eight of the province's 29 regencies and municipalities to reduce the dependency on rice.
Head of the tuber and sago section at the Papua Food and Horticulture Agency, Hendrikus Kawer, said on Sunday that average consumption of rice in the province reached 200,000 tons per year.
The regencies that are set to cultivate sweet potatoes comprise Tolikara, Puncak Jaya, Intan Jaya, Jawawijaya, Merauke, Nabire, Mimika and Keerom.
"Forty farmers' groups have been established in the regions that will cultivate sweet potatoes," Kawer said as quoted by Antara news agency.
He said the total cultivation area for sweet potatoes was 775 hectares, with each regency overseeing 100 hectares, except for Tolikara regency, which had 75 hectares.
Kawer added that the eight regencies had received social aid to grow sweet potatoes. Regencies with 100 hectares of sweet-potato plantations have been given Rp 357 million (US$29,795), while Tolikara received Rp 267 million.
“Sweet potatoes offer great potential to replace rice as a staple food. Therefore, the development must be carried out continually in stages," he said.
He also revealed that Papua produced 405,527 tons of sweet potato in 2013, while only around 300,000 tons were consumed.