Soybean Competitiveness Compared to Other Secondary Crops and Its Prospect to Achieve Self-Sufficiency in Indonesia

Abstract

Demand for soybean in Indonesia keeps increasing along with population growth. So far, most of the domestic demand is fulfilled through soybean import. This study aims to analyze the prospect of soybean self-sufficiency in the perspective of its competitiveness against other secondary crops in Indonesia. The analysis method applied in this study is comparison of financial farm income between soybean farming against other secondary crops, namely corn, groundnut and mungbean. The results of analysis showed that soybean was not competitive compared to other secondary crops. This was indicated by relatively low farm income of soybean farming compared to those of corn, groundnut, and mungbean. Rational farmers would be expected to choose the more profitable crops rather than growing soybean. Therefore, without significant breakthroughs, the area planted with soybean and its production will keep decreasing. In other words, it is almost impossible to achieve self-sufficency in soybean.