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View all search resultsCrop failures threaten Indonesia as dry season drags on
A number of regions in Indonesia are suffering from crop failures, as the onslaught of the warming El Niño climate phenomenon intensifies and may extend the dry season through next year, with rice production already dropping in the last three months.
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A farmer walks through an rice field fed by the Cimulu tributary that has dried up on July 16 in Ciwasmandi hamlet, Sukajaya village, Purbaratu district, Tasikmalaya, West Java. (Antara/Adding Bustomi)
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number of regions in Indonesia are suffering from crop failures, as the onslaught of the warming El Niño climate phenomenon intensifies and may drag the dry season on until next year, with rice production already dropping in the last three months.
In recent weeks, many farmers across Java, West Nusa Tenggara (NTB), East Nusa Tenggara (NTT) and parts of Sumatra Island have suffered water shortages, according to the Indonesian Farmers Union (SPI). The union comprises more than a million farmers across the archipelago, most of whom cultivate water-intensive rice crops, a staple food for the country’s 280 million people.
Kusnan, SPI agroecology department head, said some farmers had already suffered from crop failures during the latest growing season between April and July, when the diminished intensity of rainfall and alternative water sources are usually still enough for rice cultivation under normal climate.
But Kusnan said that the El Niño has now triggered severe drought and drained water supplies, costing farmers their livelihoods as crop failures threaten these regions. Prolonged rainless days and inadequate sources of water from dams and other irrigation channels, he added, caused farmers to face crop damage, impacting particularly rice and corn crops.
“Across these regions, many farmers have already faced crop failures driven by water crises, rampant pests and disease outbreaks,” Kusnan told The Jakarta Post.
In West Java, a major rice-producing province in Indonesia, the Majalengka administration recently announced that at least 72 hectares of rice fields in Panyingkiran village were damaged by extreme drought. The Bekasi administration, also in West Java, has warned that a total of 1,500 ha of rice fields could face similar threats in the coming months due to prolonged rainless days.
Meanwhile, farmers across 15 subdistricts in Tangerang, Banten, are also under threat of crop failure, according to the Tangerang Agriculture and Food Security Agency (DPKP).
