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Rice fields in West Java suffer crop failure after flood and landslide
West Java reported that 874 hectares of rice fields suffered from crop failure due to extreme weather, which resulted in landslides, droughts and floods in the latest planting season.
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Post-harvest: Farmers thresh rice after the harvest in Laladon village, Bogor regency, West Java, on Oct. 11, 2023. The West Java provincial administration reported that 874 hectares of rice fields suffered from crop failure due to extreme weather which resulted in landslides, droughts and floods. (Antara/Arif Firmansyah)
T
he West Java Food Crops and Horticulture Agency reported that 874 hectares of rice fields in the province suffered from crop failure during the planting season from October to February.
The crop failure was caused by climate change, which triggered extreme weather events such as floods, droughts and landslides, agency head Dadan Hidayat said in Bandung on Wednesday.
"There were 6,299 hectares [of rice fields] that were affected, but only 874 hectares suffered from crop failure," Dadan said, as quoted by tempo.co news site.
According to the agency’s data, 119 ha of rice fields experienced crop failure out of a total of 3,436 ha affected by flooding. Another 703 ha of rice fields suffered from crop failure out of 2,768 ha affected by drought. Meanwhile, out of 96 ha that were affected by landslides, 52 ha experienced crop failure.
"In some areas, the rainfall is very high, causing landslides in mountainous areas and flooding in the northern coastal areas due to overflowing irrigation water," Dadan said.
He noted that even with these figures, the number of rice fields affected by climate change was relatively small compared with West Java's total rice production.
Separately, Agriculture Minister Andi Amran Sulaiman expressed his concern about the declining rice production, especially coupled with surging rice prices.
