T

he West Java provincial administration will allocate Rp 20 billion (US$ 2.12 million) to repair irrigation systems in the hope of reaching a harvest yield target of 1 million tons of unhusked rice by the end of 2012.

West Java Agricultural Agency head Endang Suhendar said that the fund would be used to repair 400 irrigation networks in rice production areas like Cirebon, Indramayu, Sukabumi and Karawang.

The networks, he continued, were mostly damaged due to a lack of maintenance so that many of them were covered by high sediment.

So far, Endang said, only 64 percent of the province’s irrigation networks ran normally.

“The number has increased from the previous period of 60 percent,” said Endang on Friday.

The damaged irrigation networks do not only seem to be the province’s issue, since similar problems are found across the country.

Haryono, the Agriculture Ministry’s Research and Development Agency chief, said earlier that 52 percent of the country’s irrigation networks needed to be fixed.

The main causes of the damage, Haryono went on, were the age factor, sedimentation, and natural disasters, which clogged the water flows and prevented paddy fields from receiving adequate water.

Repairs are required as the government has set a target of producing a rice production surplus of about 10 million tons by 2014.

If the networks are not immediately repaired, they may affect more than 300,000 hectares of the nation’s 7.23 hectares of irrigated rice fields.

The nation’s current productivity index is 1.68, meaning one farmer plants one to two times a year, said Haryono.

“There are not many farmers who can plant rice in their paddy fields three times a year,” said Haryono.

 If the index number increases to the likes of 1.8, Haryono said that rice production might increase significantly.

Besides damaged irrigation networks, the province of West Java is also facing a long drought, which affects 0.78 percent, or 6,200 hectares, of the total 900,000 hectares of paddy fields.

“The remaining areas are in critical situation. They will likely suffer if there are not enough downpours,” Endang said.

Officials at the Agricultural Agency suggested that farmers not plant their paddy fields until September, but the latter ignored the advice, said Endang.