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Nearly 100 regencies, cities face crop failure due to drought
The imminent crop failure could potentially lead to a slump in rice production.
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Running dry: Boys play soccer on a dry rice field in Cibiru Hilir, Bandung regency, West Java on July 3. Drought has affected nearly 100 regencies and towns across Indonesia. (Antara/Raisan Al Farisi)
T
he current dry season has led to a drought that has affected over 100,000 hectares of rice fields in about 100 regencies and towns on Java and some other islands with more than 9,000 hectares facing crop failure, the Agriculture Ministry has said.
The imminent crop failure could potentially lead to a slump in rice production, the ministry added.
“There has been no rain for more than 30 days in the provinces of Banten, West Java, Central Java, Yogyakarta, East Java, West Nusa Tenggara [NTB] and East Nusa Tenggara [NTT],” the ministry’s agriculture infrastructure director general Sarwo Edhy said at a meeting in Jakarta on Monday.
Sarwo said East Java was the most affected province, where 34,006 hectares of rice fields had become dry, 5,069 hectares of which have experienced crop failure.
The next most affected area is Central Java with 32,809 hectares of dry fields, of which 1,893 hectares face crop failure. West Java is the third most affected, with 25,416 hectares of dry fields and 624 hectares of failed fields.
In Yogyakarta, crops failed in 1,757 hectares of rice fields out of the 6,139 hectares affected by the drought, and in NTT 15 hectares failed out of 55 hectares. Banten had 3,464 hectares affected by the drought and NTB had 857 hectares, with no record of crop failure, Sarwo said.
The ministry's food crop director general Sumardjo Gatot Irianto told The Jakarta Post on Tuesday that the 9,358 hectares of rice fields facing crop failure had caused a decrease in grain production by 45,000 tons.
