Farmers in Indonesia have over the last few years grown enough rice for more than 20 million people using plants developed through the country’s plant mutation breeding programme. The programme first took root through collaboration with the IAEA and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) in 1997 and has since grown into a comprehensive partnership network that brings the results of scientific research with nuclear techniques to farmers’ fields.
"Nuclear technology in Indonesia has been used in various fields of life, including agriculture,” said Suryantoro, the Deputy Chairman of Indonesia’s National Nuclear Energy Agency (BATAN). “Through radiation mutation engineering research, BATAN has improved the quality of local crop varieties with the aim that the new improved seeds be widely used by the community."
When the first plant breeding cooperation project with the Joint FAO/IAEA Division of Nuclear Techniques in Food and Agriculture began in 1997, scientists at BATAN’s research institutes received state-of-the-art equipment, extensive training in nuclear technologies, and support from experts through IAEA coordinated research and technical cooperation projects. This laid the foundation for Indonesia’s plant mutation breeding programme.
More than 35 new varieties of crops, such as soybeans and rice, have since been developed through the programme. The new varieties are bred using irradiation and selected based on their improved characteristics compared to other local varieties, such as higher yields, shorter cultivation time or resistance to climate change stressors and diseases (see Plant mutation breeding). Once ready, seeds for these new crops are then multiplied and made available to farmers.
“It’s important that more seeds are produced to increase the area under cultivation,” said A. Sidik Tanoyo, an official from the Ministry of Agriculture in East Java. “This will contribute to increased productivity and farmers’ incomes.”
To help ensure widespread use of these new crop varieties, the programme has grown into a comprehensive partnership network that is clearing the way for large-scale cultivation. The model is built on collaboration between research institutes, ministries, governmental agencies, seed breeding companies, farmers’ cooperatives, market and export groups. These partnerships span the supply chain from seed development and multiplication to distribution and cultivation in the fields.
“The programme, involving many national Ministries and Institutions and three international organizations, is designed to run from upstream to downstream,” said Totti Tjiptosumirat, Head of BATAN’s Centre for Isotope and Radiation Application. “BATAN in the upstream position develops superior seeds; the Ministry of Agriculture distributes seeds to seed producers, and the Ministry of Industry transfers the innovation downstream to small and medium-sized enterprises or start-up companies.’’