Drought slashes rice output<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): This year's severe drought has slashed the
\ncountry's production of rice, soybeans, mung beans, cassava and
\nsweet potatoes, but it has not affected the output of corn and
\npeanuts.<\/p>\n
The Central Bureau for Statistics (BPS) announced over the
\nweekend that the country's unhusked rice production during the
\nJanuary-August period decreased by 4.35 percent to 38.3 million
\ntons compared to the same period last year.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, the production of soybeans, according to the
\nbureau's recent survey, declined by 6.9 percent to 1.1 million
\ntons, mung beans by 20.2 percent to 157,000 tons, cassava by 9.9
\npercent to 10.3 million tons and sweet potatoes by 10.4 percent
\nto 1.3 million tons.<\/p>\n
However, the country's output of corn and peanuts increased by
\n9.2 percent and 1.7 percent respectively to 5.6 millions tons and
\n487,000 tons during the first eight months of this year.<\/p>\n
The BPS said in a press release that its routine agricultural
\nsurvey was based on data collected by district administrations.<\/p>\n
The bureau noted that this year's drop in rice output resulted
\nfrom the failure of crops in 148,500 hectares of rice fields
\nwhich had been severely affected by this year's dry spell. The
\narea of drought-affected fields were 248.6 percent larger than
\nthose in 1993.<\/p>\n
It said the average productivity of rice fields in the first
\neight months of this year also declined by 0.06 percent to 4.3
\ntons per hectare over the same period of last year.<\/p>\n
The bureau noted that Java remains the main supplier of rice
\nto the country. Of the 38.3 million tons of the rice output, 60
\npercent was produced on the island.(rid)<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/drought-slashes-rice-output-1447893297",
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