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)