Cloud seeding plan recommended by Geophysics Agency

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)