The decline of land quality and productivity, global climate change and world population increase now and in the future become threats as well as fears of the emergence of hunger in the world. This concern has sparked the emergence of a new concept of food sovereignty, namely the rights of nations and peoples to protect and define their own food policies by giving priority to local food production for domestic needs, in addition to the policy to ensure the farmers’ sovereignty of fertile land, water, seeds, including financing for agricultural workers and small farmers, as well as a ban on food trade practices by dumping.
This was conveyed by Andriko Noto Susanto, S.P., M.P, a young researcher in Soil Fertility and Soil Biology from Center for Agricultural Technology of Moluccas in the Prof. Ir. Haryono Danusastro Auditorium, UGM Faculty of Agriculture, Thursday (20/10) during his doctoral open examination. In the exam, he was accompanied by the promoter, Prof. Dr. Ir. Bambang Hendro Sunarminto, S.U and co-promoter Prof. Dr. Bostang Radjaguguk, M.Agr.Sc and Dr. Ir. Benito Heru Purwanto, M.Agr.Sc.
As a strategic food commodity in the system of national economy, Andriko Noto said that rice is the staple food of 95% of Indonesian society. Analysis of data from the Center for Agricultural Data and Information in 2011 showed that the outreach of national rice harvest in 2000 was 10.62 million hectares, while in year 2011 it increased to 12.21 million ha with an average rate of increase at 1.24% per year. While the National grain production in 2000 totaled 49.2 million tons, while in year 2011 increased to 64.06 million tons with an average increase rate at 2.34% in production. Higher production rate than the rate of harvest area is caused mainly by increased productivity of 4.63 tons/ha in 2000 to 5.25 tons/ha in year 2011."This is what happened during the last eleven years, and there has been an increase in productivity at a rate of 0.95% per year," he said.
Defending his dissertation Study on Evaluation Method of Soil Fertility Status and Its Utilization as a Basis of Nutrient Management in Specific Location of Irrigation Ricefield in Buru Regency, Andriko said to increase national rice production consistently can be done by intensification, and one effort that can be done is with land management. For the production of paddy cultivation it is very dependent on how much the optimal nutrient needs can be met by the soil as a growing medium. "If the land is not able to provide nutrients in adequate amounts, the addition in the form of fertilizer is needed to ensure that the plant can grow well," he said.
He explained that the original supply of nutrient N is a major limiting factor of paddy productivity of rice fields in Asia. With the addition of N fertilizer, it is expected to stabilize the productivity of lowland rice in Asia in the range of 6.0 to 9.9 tons per ha, while if without fertilizer productivity only reaches the range of 4.0 to 5.6 tons per Ha. "This proves that the dependence on fertilization is quite high due to decreased ability of soil to support optimum food productivity of plants," Andriko explained.
Therefore, assessment of soil fertility status is important to do in order that nutrient management planning for the cultivation of paddy can be more accurate, so that productivity can be improved. By conducting an evaluation of the distribution uniformity soil properties can be mapped, reflected in the form of soil fertility status unit delineation with a particular method.
Economically, Andriko Noto’s research result in the area of ?? Waeapo’s rice fields demonstrated that with fertilization of N, P and K fertilizer based on recommendation with omission plot test in the SKT unit map is able to increase the average productivity of 5.43 tons per ha to 6.53 tons per ha. Besides, an increase in total production potential of 29.26% is followed by 22.34% of fertilization profit.
Another conclusion is the return of 80% straw to the fields of farmers based on fertilizer recommendation of research results could potentially increase the production of 29.26 per cent followed by fertilizer cost reduction up to 31.35 percent, so the benefits of fertilization increase by 35.82 percent," Andriko who passed cum laude said.