SUMMARY

Sugar is one of the products of food consumption in Indonesia in addition

to rice, corn, soybeans, and meat. The stock availability of five consumer products
must be maintained and preserved as an important value of such products as food
products. It is explained that the development of the sugar industry has an
important role in order to increase foreign exchange. This is because it is directly
related to the fulfillment of basic needs of the people and providing jobs and
encouraging economic growth in these areas.
North Sumatera is a province in Indonesia which launches Sugar SelfSufficiency program in 2014. The existing barriers in the process of achieving the
program today is the shortage of land for the production of raw materials of plant
propagation sugar and erratic weather conditions for the growth of these plants,
especially those dominated by low light intensity and high rainfall in Central Java,
thus reducing sugar yield resulting from 7-7.5% to 5.8%. This paper aims to
provide some alternative methods that can be used in solving the problem of
shortage of land and a decrease in sugar production that occurred in support of
Sugar self-sufficiency program of North Sumatera in 2014.
Sugarcane is the main crop used for sugar production of raw materials.
This plant is grown as a contributor plant of more than 70% of world sugar
production. The contribution of supplies provided by this plant is between 60-70%
each year for the world sugar production and has been widely cultivated both in
the tropical and sub-tropical areas, one of them is in Indonesia. Sugarcane likes
warm conditions and sunlight irradiation. Cloudy conditions during the formation
of sugar will result in lower sugar production by the increasing of starch
production. Rainfall will inhibit the maturation phase by producing a low sugar
concentration, while also will damage the seed (occurring decay) and affect
harvesting and transportation arrangements. Water that result in exceeding the
needs will affect the surface density of the soil, leaching of nutrients and running
off soil erosion.
The method used in the preparation of this paper uses literature by
collecting material either from books or from scientific articles. Land requirement
for the production of raw sugar can be done by the use of critical land in North
Sumatera. The increasing production of sugar cane can be done by the mass
production of sugarcane seedlings in large quantities in a short time using in vitro
culture, continued by the improving the physical, chemical and biological soil
(with composting and use of zeolite), growing in the greenhouse (with a
controlled environmental factors) and lastly continued by a right post-harvest
handling sugarcane.
Some of the solutions proposed above will not be successful if they are not
supported by the cooperation of the relevant parties, such as local government
agencies, experts, cultivation actors of sugar cane, and other parties. The
techniques above can be used together or partially by taking into account
conditions on the ground for the realization of this program. These steps will
indirectly help reducing the level of environmental pollution, improving damaged

soil properties so that it can be used further for economically important

agricultural activities and provide jobs that will have long-term sustainable
impact, not only limited to the fulfillment of the government program.