Corn Prices in Gorontalo Soar Amid Drought and Harvest Failure

The prolonged dry season is beginning to have a significant impact on the agricultural sector in Gorontalo Province. This condition has triggered a price increase and a decline in the quality of corn in several traditional markets due to plummeting harvest yields. At the Central Market in Gorontalo City, traders are beginning to complain about the lack of supply. Oma Nana, a corn trader, revealed that the price of sweet corn has risen quite sharply because stocks are increasingly limited during the dry season. “Previously, for Rp10,000, buyers could get five cobs; now they only get three cobs. The quality has also declined because the corn kernels are becoming dry and shrivelled due to the extreme hot weather,” said Oma Nana on Saturday (25/7). In addition to sweet corn, the price increase has also targeted the BISI-2 and hybrid corn varieties. Currently, both types of corn are priced at around Rp10,000 per litre. According to Oma Nana, the hybrid variety is the most affected by the drought because it is generally planted on large tracts of land located far from permanent water sources. She explained that corn plants are highly dependent on adequate water supply to thrive. “If the drought comes earlier, the yield shrinks and can even lead to crop failure,” she added. Sweet corn is considered to have slightly better production resilience. This is because sweet corn cultivation is typically carried out on land near river areas, so water requirements are relatively more secure compared to rain-fed land. This drought condition ultimately creates a domino effect, starting from a decrease in market supply to driving up prices at the trader level, as the risk of harvest failure looms over farmers in Gorontalo.