INDONESIA REJECTS WORLD BANK FARM REFORM PROPOSALS Indonesia rejected World Bank recommendations for sweeping reforms to its farm economy, as the country's foreign aid donors met to consider giving it 2.5 billion dlrs in grants and soft loans. Agriculture Minister Achmad Affandi, in written remarks distributed today as Indonesia's 14 foreign donor nations met at The Hague, said, "The general argument presented by the Bank for this free trade, open economy view is weak." The Bank called for overhauls in how Indonesia manages the largest farm area in South-east Asia, and said agricultural growth was stagnating under subsisides for rice farming. The Bank report said Indonesia's rice production had peaked and the subsidies are a waste of money. Affandi replied that rice is the main staple and provides an income for 17 pct of the workforce. The subsidies were needed to support the fertilizer industry, including importers, exporters, producers and distributors, he said, as well as assisting in small part the majority of Indonesian farmers. Affandi agreed with a bank recommendation that farmers should be free to choose their own crops, but he said the government would continue to maintain production targets for "strategic commodities" such as rice and sugar. The Bank report was especially critical of Indonesia's drive to plant sugar, saying domestic sugar prices are double the world average because of inefficiencies, and the country would save money by importing the commodity. However, Affandi said volatile world sugar prices, the need to save foreign exchange and an already up-and-running sugar industry were good arguments for continuing the sugar drive. He also said import barriers and trade monopolies in the agricultural sector were needed to help domestic industry develop and because of "over-production and price intervention in the developed nations."