Extreme weather leads to soaring prices of vegetables

Extreme weather has hampered growth of various vegetables in Bantul regency, Yogyakarta, leading to soaring prices in the region.

Eggplant, which normally sells for between Rp 700 and Rp 1,500 per kilogram, is currently priced at above Rp 3,000 per kilogram. The price of kacang panjang (long beans), similarly increased from Rp 1,500 to Rp 2,000 per kilogram.

“I spent Rp 1,000 for a small eggplant at a neighboring kiosk,” said Sari of Srigading subdistrict, Bantul.

Many farmers blamed extreme weather for the circumstance, claiming that unusually high humidity had led to a deadly fungus infecting many plants and causing harvest failures.

“Tomato plants usually grow very green and begin growing fruit after being fertilized. The leaves now go curly after being planted and do not grow fruit,” said Daryanto, a vegetable farmer from Tegalsari, Bantul.

The hot and humid weather inhibits optimal growth and prevents a maximum harvest, causing many plants to wither and die, Daryanto said.

Another farmer, Danung, said that although harvests were not as prosperous as normally expected, relative earnings were higher because of the soaring prices of vegetables in the market.

Cultivating his 700 square meter eggplant plantation, Danung said he could earn up to Rp 1 million weekly (US$111), even though the harvest volume is beneath expectations, adding that the harvest season involves eight cycles and last for about two months, for which he required an investment of some Rp 500,000.

“If I planted rice I would earn no more than Rp 1.5 million in total,” he said, adding that he had to be extremely careful in nurturing the plants given the unfriendly weather.

Many farmers said they were not sure about which plants would be best suited to adapt to extreme weather. To minimize the risk, farmers plant a variety of vegetables to hedge the risk of crop failure.

“I planted eggplant, ‘oyong’, ‘pare’ and tomato. It turns out that only eggplant and pare [spring cucumber] survived, although the harvest is still not maximum,” said Daryanto, who owns some 6,000 square meters of farming area.

Agriculture and Forestry Agency data shows that there are currently some 1,200 hectares of productive vegetable fields in Bantul. “They are fields that have been planted and managed well,” agency head Edy Suhariyanto said.

Edy confirmed that extreme weather had caused harvest failures for various vegetable products in the regency. To help meet market demand, the agency called on farmers to continue planting vegetables, even if this was not the ideal time to do so, he said.

“We suggest they plant vegetables because economically it is more profitable, even if harvest results are not optimal,” Edy said, adding that the agency had deployed a pest monitoring team to help minimize risk.

“It’s true that we don’t have supervisors for extreme weather, but we are improving pest observation activities,” he said.