A fisherman for 12 years, Buyung, 35, from Siberut Island in Mentawai, only recently began feeling scared about going far out to sea in unpredictable weather.
"The direction of the wind is really unpredictable," he tells The Jakarta Post.
"Sometime it blows hard from the north, and then suddenly changes, coming from the west. We get scared to go to sea, much less go far out."
Buyung adds he began feeling the change in the weather since the start of last month.
Every November, he goes on, the skies over Mentawai turn stormy, but the wind direction is always orderly: for a week it blows from the west, then the next week from the south.
But now, he says, the wind whips up from different directions, changing tack suddenly from west to north.
Buyung, chairman of the Siberut Island fishermen's group Saiyo Sakatako, adds his earnings have dropped drastically, from the previous Rp 100,000 to Rp 150,000 a day, to between Rp 50,000 and Rp 60,000 now.
Another Siberut fisherman, Pikal, 22, decided to hang up his net since early last month.
"It's very dangerous," he explains.
"We had a bad experience once when we got hit by strong waves. It was very difficult to get back to shore because of the wind.
"We just don't want to end up capsized in the middle of the ocean," adds Pikal, who used to fish with his father.
The Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysics Agency (BMKG) has warned on its website of possible storms and high waves in several coastal areas, including the Mentawai Islands, from late November to early December.
It made no mention, however, of the high, changing winds.
In other parts of West Sumatra, unpredictable weather has also seen local fishermen report reduced catches fish and farmers complain of difficulties working the field.
Muarolabuh in South Solok regency, for instance, is in the grip of a localized dry spell, even as other regions in the province, particularly coastal ones, experience heavy downpours.
"Things have been like this for about a year now," says local farmer Masrizal, 60.
"At the moment it's very difficult to plant rice here when it's so dry, so we've been forced to grow bananas and corn."
He adds the land has dried up and hardened due to the protracted dry spell and a diminishing supply of irrigation water caused by a decreased water flow of tributaries into the region.
"We've never experienced such a situation before," Masrizal says.
Farmers in Padang Panjang are also reporting similar tales of hardship. The rainy season that normally arrives in September only began in October, and has not been as wet as previously.
"The soil is cracking because of the dryness and heat," says farmer Sutan Basa, 49.
"When the rain does fall, the water runs off into the cracks; just like a sponge absorbing water."
