The prolonged drought has severely affected thousands of farmers in Cirebon, West Java. As of the middle of this month, more than 4,000 hectares of paddy fields face possible harvest failure.

"The severe drought means many farmers face difficulties in finding water sources for their rice plants. So far lack of water has damaged plants between 30 and 80 days old," said head of the Cirebon Agriculture and Farming Agency Ali Effendi on Tuesday.

Ali further said that at least 12,000 farm workers would risk losing their incomes. Usually three farmers manage one hectare of rice in Cirebon.

He explained it would be difficult to alleviate the crisis because the low water level has hurt the operation of existing water distribution systems.

"Even though we have water reserves at the Rentang reservoir in Majalengka, it is not adequate for all the paddy fields," Ali said.

The affected farms are located in 12 districts, including Kapetakan, Gegesik, Klangenan, Plumbon, Pangenan and Astanajapura.

The worst-hit area is Kapetakan district, where only 500 out of 2,800 hectares are irrigated.

"Kapetakan is located at the far north of Cirebon regency, while Rentang reservoir is located in the southern area. That's why the northern areas across the regency often suffer from drought during the dry season," Ali said.

However, despite the vast area affected by lack of water, Ali was still optimistic that rice production in the regency would not be seriously affected. He predicted Cirebon would meet its production target this year of 450,000 tons of unhusked rice, equivalent to 270,000 tons of rice, from the 50,000 hectares.

Cirebon, spanning 989.7 square kilometers and inhabited by over 2 million people, is one of the major rice production centers in West Java, after Indramayu, Subang and Karawang regencies.

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