W. Java not prepared for drought: Councillor<\/p>\n
Yuli Tri Suwarni, The Jakarta Post, Bandung<\/p>\n
The annual drought that always hits West Java's rice belt
\napparently has yet to prompt the provincial agriculture agency
\ninto preparing appropriate measures, councillor Dardiri said on
\nThursday.<\/p>\n
Dardiri, a National Awakening Party (PKB) councillor with
\nCommission D overseeing agriculture, criticized the agency for
\nalways being late in allocating special funds to deal with the
\nannual drought.<\/p>\n
\"Last year, the agency submitted a budget for procuring
\nirrigation pumps for rice plants worth Rp 60 billion (US$7.32
\nmillion) as an additional budget for 2002, after the drought
\nhit,\" he said.<\/p>\n
\"But we haven't checked if the pumps have helped overcome the
\ndrought. We only found out from newspaper reports that the rice
\nplants on the north coast had suffered from the drought.\"<\/p>\n
Head of the agency Dadi Mulyadi refuted critics on Friday,
\nsaying that only 345 of 240,000 hectares of rice fields in the
\nprovince had been hit by the drought so far.<\/p>\n
\"Last year was worse, with around 40,000 hectares of rice
\nplants withering,\" he said.<\/p>\n
Dadi was optimistic that the drought would not affect the
\nprovince's target of producing 9.3 million tons of rice.<\/p>\n
He also suggested that farmers postpone planting rice until
\nOctober.<\/p>\n
\"If farmers want to plant rice, they must wait until the rainy
\nseason in October. In the meantime, it's better for them to plant
\nvegetables,\" he said.<\/p>\n
Over 45,000 hectares of rice in Indramayu and Cirebon
\nregencies have reportedly withered following the early arrival of
\nthe annual drought predicted to last until November.<\/p>\n
The situation was made worse with the decrease in the water
\nsupply from three dams in Salam Darma, Subang regency, in Bendung
\nRentang, Majalengka regency, and in Jatiluhur, Purwakarta
\nregency.<\/p>\n
Head of operations and maintenance for the Water Resource
\nManagement Agency Iding Srihadi said that Jatiluhur dam's water
\nsupply had decreased by more than 300 million cubic meters.<\/p>\n
He added that an indication that the water supply at Jatiluhur
\nwould decrease had already been detected last December, when the
\nvolume of water had fallen by 600 million cubic meters.<\/p>\n
An effort last March to increase the water supply through
\nartificial rain did not produce significant results, as it was
\nonly able to add 222 million cubic meters.<\/p>\n
Iding blamed the poor result on the fact that the artificial
\nrain mostly fell upstream of the Citarum river, the biggest river
\nin West Java that runs through the dam.<\/p>\n
The water level at Jatiluhur dam is currently 98 meters, while
\nthe ideal level is over 105 meters.<\/p>\n
Aside from Indramayu and Cirebon regencies, rice plants in
\nMajalengka, Subang and Sukabumi regencies have also withered.<\/p>\n
The Water Resource Management Agency had requested the
\ncouncil's approval in asking the provincial administration to
\nprovide Rp 1.1. billion to induce artificial rain.<\/p>\n
Even so, the artificial rain cannot be created now, as the
\nprocess must be undertaken early on in the rainy season, which is
\npredicted for October.<\/p>\n
\"If we create the artificial rain now, it's useless because
\nthere are only a few clouds,\" Iding said, adding that farmers
\nwere urged to ration out the water supply.<\/p>\n
Iding said that the drought along the north coast could have
\nbeen overcome had the Jatigede dam construction in Sumedang
\nregency been completed.<\/p>\n
Unfortunately, the Rp 7 billion dam has yet to be built, due
\nto an unsettled matter in regards clearing the land for the
\nproject.<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/w-java-not-prepared-for-drought-councillor-1447893297",
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