Extreme weather threatening productivity

The continuing bad weather that has pummeled the island since the start of the year has been a nightmare for Nyoman Sukita, a vegetable grower in Bedugul, Tabanan.

Torrential rain and merciless gales have inflicted severe damage to his 2,000-square meter greenhouse and the plants housed inside it.

“The damage cost me around Rp 140 million [US$ 15,680],” he said.

The damages forced the grower to close the greenhouse for a few weeks, crippling his ability to supply fresh vegetables to supermarkets in Denpasar.

“It means that I will have no income for several weeks,” he said, adding that the greenhouse could generate Rp 37 million in revenue per month.

Sukita is now busy rebuilding the greenhouse next to Beratan Lake. He planned to cultivate 23 kinds of vegetables inside the new greenhouse and prayed that the weather would be much friendlier when the greenhouse was completed.

“I am worried that disaster will strike again. Yet, this is my main livelihood and I have no other option than starting all over again,” he said.

Provincial Agriculture Agency head Made Putra Suryawan said that extreme weather has been threatening agriculture productivity on the resort island for the last few years. The impact could be worse this year, he warned.

Suryawan didn’t have any data about the total number of agricultural land damaged by the bad weather early this year.

“We haven’t been compiling the numbers,” Suryawan said.

Bad weather also affected the production of fruits and flowers.

“Heavy rain and strong winds cause fruits and flowers to fall out before harvest time,” he said.

Consequently, the prices of many kinds of fruits and flowers have soared due to decreasing supply and increasing demand triggered by Balinese Hinduism holidays. For instance, Pacar Cina flowers, which on normal days are sold at Rp 8,000 per kilogram, now command a price of Rp 35,000 per kg. The price of orange soared from only 8,000 per kg to 12,000 per kg.

Central Statistics Agency (BPS) data showed that total production of many kinds of fruits in Bali had been decreasing in recent years. For instance, mango production decreased from 59,868 tons in 2009 to 28,924 tons in 2010. Orange production decreased from 161,488 tons in 2009 to 97,523 ton in 2010.

Suryawan was concerned that the bad weather would also affect the island’s rice production. In 2011, a significant number of paddy fields in Bali suffered crop failures, pushing the total production of dry-milled grain slightly down from 876,000 tons in 2010 to 868,000 tons in 2011.

“However, despite the crop failure and the drop in production, the island still enjoyed a rice surplus that year. We hope this year will be better than last year,” Suryawan said.

He urged farmers to launch efforts to minimize possible damages caused by bad weather.