The Jakarta Post
Please Update your browser
Your browser is out of date, and may not be compatible with our website. A list of the most popular web browsers can be found below.
Just click on the icons to get to the download page.
Popular Reads
Top Results
No results found. Please check your search term and try again
Can't find what you're looking for?
View all search results
Popular Reads
Top Results
No results found. Please check your search term and try again
Can't find what you're looking for?
View all search resultsEast Java prepares for long dry season
The province faces double ecological crisis in 2026, consisting of floods and landslides during rainy season and forest and land fires as well as expanding extreme drought during dry season.
Change text size
Gift Premium Articles
to Anyone
Share the best of The Jakarta Post with friends, family, or colleagues. As a subscriber, you can gift 3 to 5 articles each month that anyone can read—no subscription needed!
Set as preferred source
Two children play with a kite at the dried-up Sumberkepuh Reservoir in Nganjuk, East Java, on Sept. 6, 2026. The 20.9-hectare reservoir, which provides irrigation for about 400 hectares of farmland, has been dry for the past two months amid the prolonged dry season. (Antara /Muhammad Mada)
T
he East Java administration is stepping up preparations for a worsening drought across the province as crop failures mount and the risk of wildfires grows.
The prolonged dry spell is putting growing pressure on farmers, many of whom are struggling to secure enough water for their crops.
Ahmad Reza, who plants bananas and corn around the Karangkates Dam in Pagak village, Malang regency, said he has been forced to pump water from the reservoir to save his farmland from the drought.
The falling water level has raised fears that agriculture in southern Malang could grind to a halt if rain does not come soon.
“There have been no rains in the past three months. We hope rain will come down soon,” he said recently.
East Java Agriculture and Food Resilience Agency records that drought has caused harvest failure in several regions. As of Sept. 10, as many as 3,856 hectares of farm land were affected by drought, with 597.11 ha of rice fields affected and 149.94 ha of them suffering from total harvest failure (puso).
Agriculture agency head Heru Suseno emphasized that not all affected land ended in total harvest failure.
