T

asiman, a farmer in Cirebon, a major rice-producing area in West Java, knows nothing about climate change, much less about the impact it could have on agriculture.

However, he says he was aware of the changes in the planting season.

The farmer from Gerbang subdistrict, Mundu district, said he used to start planting rice by the end of October or by the beginning of November.

"But I haven't done it so far. I probably will do so by the end of this month," Tasiman added.

Yayat, a farmer from Kapetakan district, shares Tasiman's experience. "I've never heard of climate change, but I know that droughts now last longer while the rainy seasons are shorter," he said.

Cirebon, which covers an area of 989.7 square kilometers and has a population of 2.1 million, is renowned as the fourth biggest rice-producing area in West Java after Indramayu, Subang and Karawang regencies.

The head of the Cirebon Agriculture, Horticulture and Forestry Agency, Ali Effendi, said climate change as the result of global warming posed serious problems to rice production in the regency.

The increase in pests and the farmers' lack of knowledge in dealing with climate change has reduced rice production, he added.

He said the rainy season's planting period that normally started between October and November would likely start only between December and January, because of weather anomalies leading to a protracted dry season.

"The prolonged drought makes it difficult for farmers to get water to irrigate their fields," Ali said, adding that this phenomenon manifested has itself in the last five years.

Ali said although the phenomenon has not had an impact on current rice production, it could in the future.

"So far the production targets are being met, but I'm not confident this will be so in 10 years," he said.

He added that productivity would be affected if the rainy season was shorter due to the worsening El Ni*o weather pattern. "Shorter rainy seasons mean lesser water supply," he said.

Other impacts of climate change, according to Ali, include an increase in pests in rice fields, specifically the black rice plant-hopper.

The worst black rice plant-hopper attack, according to him, occurred in 2005 when the harvest from 10,000 hectares was lost. Unfortunately, Ali said, most farmers in Cirebon had limited awareness of climate change and how it affected agriculture.

Most people in the regency, he went on, were traditional farmers, who inherited the livelihood.

"The condition has changed now. They have to improve their knowledge, including on climate change," he said.

To help educate farmers about climate change, according to Ali, the Cirebon regency administration will intensify its field school program for farmers.

"It's a crash course to provide farmers with adequate agricultural knowledge," he said.