INDONESIAN AGRICULTURE GROWTH EXPECTED TO SLOW Indonesia"s agriculture sector will grow by just 1.0 pct in calendar 1987, against an estimated 2.4 pct in 1986 as the production of some commodities stagnates or declines, the U.S. Embassy said in a report. Production of Indonesia"s staple food, rice, is forecast to fall to around 26.3 mln tonnes from an embassy estimate of 26.58 mln tonnes in 1986, according to the annual report on Indonesia"s agricultural performance. The government officially estimates 1986 rice production at 26.7 mln tonnes, with a forecast 27.3 mln tonnes output in 1987. The report says wheat imports are likely to fall to 1.5 mln tonnes in calendar 1987 from 1.69 mln tonnes in 1986 because of a drawdown on stocks. "Growth prospects for agriculture in 1987 do not look promising as rice production is forecast to decline and the production of sugarcane, rubber and copra show little or no gain," the report says. "The modest overall increase which is expected will be due to significant gains in production of corn soybeans, palm oil and palm kernels." Constraints to significant overall increases in agricultural output include a shortage of disease resistant seeds, limited fertile land, insect pests and a reluctance by farmers to shift from rice production to other crops, the report underlines. The fall in rice production is caused by an outbreak of pests known as "wereng" or brown plant hoppers in 1986 which largely offset gains in yields. The outbreak has forced the government to ban the use of 57 insecticides on rice because it was believed the wereng are now resistant to these varieties, and to use lower-yielding, more resistant rice types. The government is depending on increased production of export commodities such as coffee, tea, rubber, plywood and palm oil to offset revenue losses brought on by falling crude oil prices. Palm oil production is expected to increase by over 7.0 pct in 1987 to 1.45 mln tonnes from 1.35 mln, with exports rising to an estimated 720,000 tonnes from 695,000 tonnes in 1986, the report says. But while production of soybeans in 1987/88 (Oct-Sept) will rise to 1.075 mln tonnes from 980,000 in 1986/87, imports will also rise to supply a new soybean crushing plant. The report says that imports of wheat, soybeans, soybean meal and cotton are not likely to decline as a result of last September"s 31 pct devaluation of the rupiah because of a rise in domestic demand. The report said that Indonesia"s overall economic performance in calendar 1986 was about zero or even a slight negative growth rate, the lowest rate of growth since the mid-1960s. It compares with 1.9 pct growth in 1985 and 6.7 pct in 1984. The dramatic fall in oil prices last year was responsible for the slump.