Observation the Key to Accuracy

Kompas/Rony Ariyanto Nugroho

Masyitoh, 55, prepares rice seedlings on her paddy field in Ranca Pancing, Bandung, West Java, at the start of the planting season on Sunday (16/7). Data collection on paddy fields is important because of the increasingly rampant rate of land conversion, which has an impact on food self-sufficiency. Several circles consider the state of things ironic in this agrarian country because agricultural land is dwindling as a result of industrial and residential development.

JAKARTA, KOMPAS – Careful observation of field conditions is deemed the key to improving the accuracy of rice production data. Thus far, the assessment of harvest areas through visual observation has been a weak point that has caused an overestimation in the nation’s production yield.

Data on rice production is obtained by multiplying the harvest area with the average rice production per hectare, or productivity. These two components, said Khudori of the Central Food Security Council’s expert working group, were produced by two different institutions, the Agriculture Ministry and the Central Statistics Agency (BPS).