Padang (ANTARA) - Cultivation of soybean commodities in W. Sumatra is constrained by the high price of seeds and the complexity of care so farmers are returning to other commodities such as corn, said the official.
"One hectare of land requires around 25 kilograms of seeds with the current price range of Rp15 thousand / kilogram or around Rp375 thousand. Most farmers have two hectares. So it's quite expensive, "said the Head of Department of Horticulture and Plantation Crops, W. Sumatra, Candra, in Padang on Monday.
In addition, care for soybean commodities is also quite complicated, because the plants are susceptible to attack by pests that cause black spots, especially during the rainy season. How to anticipate the pest, spraying needs to be done regularly, depending on the condition of the plant.
" Actually, to minimize the harvest costs we have helped threshing machine tools through farmer groups. But the problem is farmers still choose traditional methods, as a result there is a considerable amount of energy that is mobilized and makes expenditure of funds quite large, "he said.
Candra said that soybean cultivation in W. Sumatra was started through program rice, corn and soybeans from the central government.
After living, it turns out the seeds are quite expensive, and maintenance costs are quite high. As a result, now the land that was once planted with soybeans has shifted to other crops such as corn.
In W. Sumatra, soybean cultivation on a large scale is spread among Agam Districts, Pasaman Barat, Sijunjung, Dharmasaraya, and Pesisir Selatan Districts.
For each of these regions, Department of Horticulture and Plantation Crops of W. Sumatra has handed over 100 machine tools to harvest through farmer groups.
However, the assistance turned out to be unable to be utilized as much as possible by farmers, even though the commodity needs in West Sumatra were quite high, especially for tempe and tofu businesses.
Based on various obstacles that occurred, the W. Sumatra Provincial Government decided not to focus too much on the commodity in 2019.
Editor: Mutiara Ramadhani
Translated by: Internship student of ANTARA 2019
Soybean cultivation in West Sumatra become an obstacle cause seeds are expensive
Head of Department of Horticulture and Plantation Crops in W. Sumatra, Candra. (ANTARAPHOTO /Ist)
