Cloud seeding plan recommended by Geophysics Agency
JAKARTA (JP): The Meteorological and Geophysics Agency recommends that the government initiate cloud seeding to overcome the wide-spread drought problem which threatens vast food crops across Indonesia.
Agency chairman Karjoto warned yesterday farmers in the provinces had begun to feel the bite of the current dry spell, saying that cloud seeding should be conducted in the near future.
"The artificial rain will be firstly made in areas close to major reservoirs to secure sufficient water for irrigation systems," Karjoto told a press conference here yesterday.
Among the worst-hit areas, according to Karjoto, are some parts of Java, Bali, East and West Nusa Tenggara, East Timor, South Sumatra and the western part of South and Central Sulawesi.
The rainfall had dropped significantly in those areas in May and June, significantly reducing the available water supply, he said.
Of the 93 drought-hit regencies across the country, some have suffered since April when the dry season had just began in many other parts of Indonesia.
Karjoto said the ministry of public works will cooperate in cloud seeding with the Agency for the Assessment and Application of Technology (BPPT).
The meteorology agency predicted that this year's rainy season would start in September.
On Thursday, an official said cloud seeding for the drought- hit West Java is impossible until September, but guaranteed that irrigation water for 288,385 hectares of paddy fields in the province would be sufficient until then.
The official, the president of the Jatiluhur Authorities, Mochamad Ulama, who oversees the giant Jatiluhur Dam in Purwakarta said weather conditions like wind velocity and cloud thickness are not conducive to making artificial rain,
The multi-purpose Jatiluhur reservoir, together with Saguling, Cirata and Juanda, forms the backbone of West Java's irrigation water supply.
Ulama said the Jatiluhur authority has set aside Rp 200 million (US$92,500) for cloud seeding.
Perish
He acknowledged that the current dry season has dropped the water levels of major reservoirs in the province an average of one meter.
Meanwhile, chief of the agriculture office in Central Java Trijono said the early arrival of the dry season in the province has caused had caused thousands of hectares of paddy fields in the province to perish.
"Some 16.400 hectares of rice fields have perished," Trijono said, adding that some 82,000 tons of rice had been lost due to the current drought.
The worst-hit areas, Trijono said, are Klaten, Grobogan, Sragen, Wonogiri where an unirrigated farming system is widely practiced.
He said the local agriculture office had prepared some 30 water pumps to be distributed to the 10 most suffering regencies.
Trijono said he is optimistic that this year's drought is not as bad as that of previous years.
The dry spell has also hit Central Java's southern coastal areas of Banyumas and Cilacap, where local governments began ransom distribution of drinking water in several villages.
Banyumas regent Djoko Sudantoko said four subdistricts have to import clean water supply from other areas. The same thing has also happened in Cilacap. (prs/har/wah)