El Nino to affect this year's commodities: Minister<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): Severe drought affecting the archipelago,
\nbelieved to be caused by the weather phenomenon known as El Nio,
\nwill lower the national output of commodities this year, Minister
\nof Agriculture Sjarifudin Baharsjah said yesterday.<\/p>\n
Sjarifudin said he expected the drought would reduce the
\nproduction of certain commodities, with coffee and tea being the
\nworst affected.<\/p>\n
\"Coffee output may drop to between 30 percent and 35 percent
\nthis year, because the drought has affected the productivity of
\nplants,\" he said.<\/p>\n
Indonesia produced 295,000 tons of coffee last year.<\/p>\n
Tea production this year might also drop by 15 percent, he
\nsaid.<\/p>\n
\"Drought conditions have prevented the fruit from ripening,\"
\nhe said.<\/p>\n
Sjarifudin said the dry conditions would only slightly affect
\nrubber and palm oil production this year, and would not affect
\ntobacco and sugar yields, as their harvest was over.<\/p>\n
\"Nationally, palm oil production will not be lowered this year
\nbecause of the drought, but individually, many plantations have
\nbeen affected by the forest fires,\" he said.<\/p>\n
He said although many oil palm plantations had been razed by
\nthe forest fires, which had been worsened by the drought,
\nplantations in the unaffected areas had begun planting and that
\nwould provide additional production.<\/p>\n
El Nio, an oceanic and atmospheric anomaly affecting weather
\naround the world, is a phenomenon which occurs every two to seven
\nyears and has made its 10th appearance in 40 years.<\/p>\n
The minister said the drought also reduced production of
\ncoconut in Lampung, tea in West Java, coffee in East Java and
\ncotton in Central Java, East Java, Southeast Sulawesi and West
\nNusa Tenggara.<\/p>\n
He also said there was reduced cocoa output in South and
\nSoutheast Sulawesi.<\/p>\n
Tea plantations in West Java, rubber plantations in South
\nKalimantan and South Sulawesi, coconut plantations in North and
\nCentral Sulawesi, cocoa plantations in Southeast Sulawesi, cashew
\nplantations in Central Sulawesi and East Nusa Tenggara and coffee
\nplantations in Irian Jaya have suffered from the dry spell, he
\nsaid.<\/p>\n
Sjarifudin said the drought had also reduced planting areas
\nfor rice to between 2 percent and 3 percent.<\/p>\n
As of the beginning of this week, about 425,800 hectares of
\nrice plantations had been badly affected by the drought, 63,383
\nhectares of which were completely parched, he said.<\/p>\n
He said the ministry would have to wait for data released by
\nthe Central Bureau of Statistics before it could estimate rice
\nproduction this year.<\/p>\n
However, he said no one should worry about the rice
\nsupply until the next harvesting season as this year's stock was
\nenough until next year.<\/p>\n
He said rice planting would also start earlier next year,
\nusing prime seedlings.<\/p>\n
\"During extreme dry conditions, we usually plant rice in dry
\nfields, which don't require much water,\" he said. (das)<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/el-nino-to-affect-this-years-commodities-minister-1447893297",
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