Estimation of food consumption and possibility of energy crop production using surplus paddy areas in Indonesia

Abstract

We estimated the potential amount of energy crops that were able to be produced without competing with food and decreasing forest area in Indonesia. The per capita rice consumption rate in each country of Southeast Asia has started to decrease along with becoming westernized in dietary habits, while rice yields continue to increase steadily. It is forecasted that Southeast Asia will have a surplus paddy field area. This surplus area could be used to produce energy crops without decreasing the forest area in the countries. The economic gaps among regions become aggravated at the same time, and a remarkable difference appears to the consumption of food by the living standard though the per capita rice consumption recently reached saturation in Indonesia. Thus the possibility of the energy crops production was examined based on considering the style of food consumption according to the expenditure classes. The per capita consumption of rice and animal products consumption in 2030 is predicted to be 0.9 times and 1.8 times respectively compared with present in Indonesia. The total surplus area is predicated to be 530,000ha in 2030, and 45.98 million tons of sugarcane could be produced from that area. The energy from this sugarcane would be 3.8% for the gasoline consumption of Japan.