Aceh farms to recover in five years

Aceh farms to recover in five years

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The Dec. 26 tsunami that swept Nanggroe Aceh Darussalam not only
devastated infrastructure but also caused extensive damage to
agricultural land, with some areas needing up to five years
before returning to full production.

"The rehabilitation of those (agricultural) areas will take
between two and five years," Minister of Agriculture Anton
Apriyantono told a conference on agribusiness held by his alma
mater, the Bogor Institute of Agriculture on Saturday.

He said the possible production losses over the five year
rehabilitation period could top Rp 701 billion (US$73.8 million).

These losses did not include damage to agricultural
infrastructure such as irrigation, machinery and buildings,
valued at Rp 297 billion, and the loss of 1.6 million head of
livestock.

The government has allocated around Rp 400 billion in funds to
help rebuild the agriculture sector in Aceh.

Over 37,000 hectares of rice fields and 28,000 hectares of
plantations in nine regencies in the province were severely
damaged by the calamities.

Anton pointed to layers of sediment -- full of salt deposited
by the surging sea water -- of up to 10 centimeters deep that was
found covering over 30,000 hectares of rice fields, affecting the
livelihoods of about 75,000 families.

Manual removal of the mud sediments would be economically
impractical as a 10-centimeter layer of sediment spread across
one hectare of land is equal to 1,500 tons, while each hectare of
land can yield about seven tons of rice each year.

As such, Anton added, the most cost-effective method of
removing the layer and restoring the land would be by watering,
either by rainfall or irrigation.

According to Anton, the main problem was not the mud sediments
but the salt that had infiltrated the soil.

Salinization causes reverse osmosis where higher
concentrations of salts in the soil causes water to be drawn out
from a plant's roots, causing it to wither and die.

Anwar, a farmer from Aceh attending the conference, said the
high concentration of salt had made the soil unusable.

"Some trees that were still standing after the tsunami have
now wilted because of the salt," he said.

"The only trees left are coconut trees, which are more
tolerant to salt." (002)