Agriculture Minister inspects Karawang rice fields to ensure planting continues despite drought

We are conducting an inspection to see firsthand whether the pumps have truly been installed.

Karawang, West Java (ANTARA) - Minister of Agriculture Andi Amran Sulaiman inspected rice field pump optimisation in Karawang, West Java, to ensure that farmers can continue planting despite the dry season through the optimisation of water pumps and the utilisation of available water sources.

“We are conducting an inspection. To see directly if the pumps have indeed been installed. To see if those facing drought have had pumps installed; it turns out they have,” said the Minister in Karawang on Monday.

The Minister personally conducted a spot check of the paddy field areas in Karawang Regency. The inspection was carried out to ensure that farmers can continue to plant and produce despite facing the dry season.

During his visit, the Minister directly checked the condition of the land, water availability, and the installation and use of pumps to irrigate the rice fields. He found that water sources around the land were still available and even abundant, yet some fields were not being irrigated optimally.

The Minister emphasised that this situation must be addressed immediately. Available water must be channelled to the fields so that farmers do not lose planting opportunities during the dry season.

“There are two cases: we send pumps because of drought. There are also cases where planting is impossible, as is happening now. There is water, water is abundant, but here planting cannot occur. Today we can plant, while the adjacent area has already planted,” said Amran.

According to him, the inspection is vital to ensure that government programmes are truly functioning and that the assistance provided is reaching the right targets and being utilised in the field.

“That is why I thank the staff. We check directly; we do not just check from Jakarta,” he asserted.

Amran stated that the optimisation of water sources through pumpisation is one of the government’s steps to ensure that planting continues throughout the year. Land that could previously only be planted twice is targeted to be increased to three planting cycles.

“We must resonate this across Indonesia. Previously, we planted twice; now we can plant three times. We will scan all of Java and areas outside Java. We will scan all areas with water sources and install pumps,” said the Minister.

Karawang is one of the regions with great potential to increase the planting index (IP) as well as rice production. With irrigation optimisation, Minister Amran targets that the IP, which was previously two planting cycles, can increase to three.

He assessed that increasing the frequency of planting would have a direct impact on farmers’ income. In the location visited, the area that can be optimised reaches approximately 3,000 hectares.

The Minister also saw opportunities to increase rice productivity in Karawang. Currently, farmer productivity in the location is around seven tonnes per hectare. With the application of better cultivation methods, this productivity is deemed capable of being increased.

“Farmer production is seven tonnes. This can rise to 12 or 11 tonnes with new methods,” he said.

According to Amran, agriculture can still yield high productivity during the dry season as long as the plants’ water requirements are met. In fact, such conditions can support the plant’s photosynthesis process, potentially increasing production.

“This is planted during the dry season. In fact, if planted during the dry season, production can reach 10 or 9 tonnes per hectare. Why? Because photosynthesis is at its peak,” he said.

The Minister revealed that the pumpisation programme previously implemented by the government has had a significant impact on increasing rice production on Java Island. Approximately 100,000 installed pumps have driven an additional production of about 2.8 million tonnes of grain in Java.

“Previously, we installed approximately 100,000 pumps. The result was an increase of 2.8 million tonnes of grain in Java alone. Almost three million tonnes,” he explained.

Therefore, Minister Amran emphasised that the government will continue to scan regions that have water sources but have not yet utilised them optimally for agriculture.

Pumpisation will be strengthened both in Java and outside Java to ensure agricultural land remains productive in facing the dry season.

The Minister appreciated the collaboration between the Ministry of Agriculture with the Ministry of Public Works, local governments, the TNI (National Armed Forces), Polri (National Police), and technical staff in the field in accelerating water management for agriculture.

“I would like to express my deepest gratitude to the Director General of Water Resources; it is extraordinary, Mr. Minister of Public Works. I admire the Director General of Water Resources. Thank you; this is one of the nation’s best sons,” he said.