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NTB rice farms hit by crop failure
At least 15,000 hectares of rice and corn crops have failed due to drought conditions in West Nusa Tenggara (NTB), one of the country's biggest rice producers
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t least 15,000 hectares of rice and corn crops have failed due to drought conditions in West Nusa Tenggara (NTB), one of the country's biggest rice producers.
The head of the food crop production division at the province's agriculture office, Abdul Ma'ad, said harvest failure was experienced by several regencies, with the worst cases reported in Bima regency where some 4,000 hectares of farms were affected.
"This is just temporary data since only several regencies filed the report. The figure could be higher, but they're sporadic cases, and mostly in those which are rain-dependent areas," he told The Jakarta Post.
The harvest failure happened during the rainy season's planting period, usually from January to April, the harvest should have started at the end of March to mid April.
In several places, such as Sekotong district in West Lombok, more than 1,000 hectares of paddy failed when they were already over two months into their cycle, close to harvest time.
In East Lombok districts of Pringgabaya and Sambelia, some 2,500 hectares of corn dried up.
Abdul blamed the harvest failure on the shift of the rainy season due to the El Nino weather phenomenon, which hit parts of the archipelago, including West Nusa Tenggara.
"The rainy season has shifted, arriving slower but ending faster. By the time rain-dependent agriculture sector still needs rain, it stops," he said.
In an effort to stop widespread harvest failure, he said, the agriculture office has distributed 60 units of water pumps to critical areas in several regencies.
However, he said the pumps could only benefit farms located in areas with a good source of groundwater.
"The farmers can use the pumps until harvest time," he said.
For the farms beyond help, or those already experiencing harvest failure, he said his office would work to provide replacement seedlings for the next planting season.
Despite the harvest failure, he said the province's overall production would not be affected, saying the affected crops made up just a small part of the entire agricultural area.
Based on data from the agriculture office for this year's January-April planting season, rice farms covered 163,000 hectares across the province, with each hectare estimated to produce around 4.8 tons.
Corn farms cover some 63,000 hectares, with each hectare projected to produce around 5 tons.
"This harvest failure will not have a massive impact to our overall production," he said.
In the past 10 years, the province has enjoyed rice surpluses, producing 1.88 million tons of unhusked rice last year, 7.4 percent higher than 1.75 million tons produced in 2008.
On average, the province's residents only need some 700-800 tons a year, with the surplus distributed to neighboring Bali and East Nusa Tenggara provinces.
