The rest of the rural population earns a living through fishing, forestry, handicrafts, and the processing of agricultural products. Only about 35 percent of Indonesia's population lives in cities, but the country has a number of large urban centers. The urban population growth of the 1960s and 1970s was more then twice as rapid as the total population growth. About 10 percent of Indonesia's land can be farmed, the majority of it for rice. The nation's agriculture is based on wet-paddy cultivation, chiefly in Java, Madura, and Bali.
Most fields produce two crops a year.
About 48 million tons of rice were harvested in 1992. Dry or upland crops also are frequently double-cropped. Under the Dutch, estate agricultural production was the mainstay of the export economy. Indonesian agriculture has done well to provide the growing population with food. However, the food supply has had to be augmented by importing about 2 million tons of rice annually.