M

ost of us will still be suffering the wet season at least until August, the Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysics (BMKG) agency said on Thursday, as farmers complained over failed crops due to the vagaries of the weather.

'First we forecast the dry season would begin March, but it appears there is a change of wind pattern from northwest to southwest which results in rising rainfall,' the agency's Hary Tirto Djatmiko, told The Jakarta Post.

The wet season normally ends in April, but as of the second week of June, most of us continue to live under a cloud. The agency attributes the strange weather to rising ocean temperatures, which affect wind patterns and eventually prolong the wet season.

'Cyclones will also appear in southern parts of Java and Maluku islands and will lead to heavy rainfalls in those areas,' Hary said.

Tobacco planters in Jember, East Java claim to have lost billions of rupiah through stalled planting due to the weather.

Chairman of the Jember chapter of the Tobacco Planters Association Abdurrahman told the Post that about 600 of his farmers had failed to plant their tobacco. Some farmers have repeated the process about two to three times. Cultivation costs about Rp 5 million (US$505) per hectare.

'We are confused by weather reports, which should be a guide as to when we should plant. The Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysics Agency and the weather agency in Australia have different predictions. When we sowed the seeds the rain swept them all away,' he said.

Last year, harvest on 1,000 of 12,000 hectares of tobacco plantations failed due to the weather. This year the cultivation areas will be below 10,000 hectares.

Dian Retnowati, from the local plantation and forestry agency, said that the administration had been mistaken to predicted the dry season. 'This is beyond our powers. We cannot control nature,' she said.

Bad weather has also kept fishermen ashore.

Agriculture Minister Suswono believes the country could experience a year-long wet season, with a severe an impact on food production. 'This year, the BMKG predict a repeat of 2010 when we also had a year-long rainy season,' Suswono said as quoted by Antara news agency last week.

Suswono expects that the wet conditions will mean failure to meet the food staple production target of 72 million tons of dry unhusked rice this year. Last year, 69.05 million tons of dry unhusked rice was produced, a 5 percent increase from 2011.

National Agency for Disaster Management (BNPB) spokesman Sutopo Purwo Nugroho said that the continuous rainfall had caused disasters like floods, landslides and hurricanes.

'Those disasters have resulted in fatalities, infrastructure damage and health problems.'

Sutopo said that Kutai Kertanegara in East Kalimantan was still suffering from flooding in May.

Separately, the head Health Policy, University of Indonesia, Hasbullah Thabrany, warned the public of health risks during the prolonged wet season.

'In this kind of weather where the air is hot yet carrying so much water, Aedes aegypti mosquitoes will easily breed,' he said.

Aedes aegypti is a mosquito that can spread dengue fever.