Drought hits rice farmers in two provinces

Drought hits rice farmers in two provinces

SEMARANG (JP): Many rice producing areas in Java and
Kalimantan have begun to feel the pinch of this year's drought
which is expected to last until at least the end of October.

In Central Kalimantan, drought is undermining the government's
one-million-hectare peat moss land project which is an
experimental project to turn arid land into paddy fields.

Minister of Transmigration Siswono Yudohusodo said that little
could be done to help farmers at the site because irrigation
systems were still under construction.

"Since the systems are not yet ready, it's just normal that
the problem still abounds," Siswono told a hearing of House
Commission IV on resettlements.

House members criticized the government for relocating people
to the site before water distribution systems were even close to
completion.

They said the ambitious project did not include construction
of roads vital to transport agricultural produce. Transportation
relies heavily on rivers, which subside during dry seasons.

To make the government's dream of establishing the area as a
key rice producing zone come true, 3,500 families have been
resettled there under the state transmigration program.

Another 20,000 families are to be resettled there this year.

Sarwono said the government was building irrigation systems to
irrigate 50,000 hectares in the northern part of the site.

To cope with the drought, each family received three plastic
tanks and a water purifier, Sarwono said.

In Central Java, the worst drought hit areas are the Rembang,
Klaten and Boyolali regencies where local governments have had to
supply clean water to residents.

Rembang regency government spokesman Nurcahyo said yesterday
that wells and man-made lagoons had dried up in five
subdistricts.

"Many people have to travel quite far to fetch water and
others have to buy water from traders," Nurcahyo said.

This is also happening in Klaten regency, where drinking water
has become a lucrative business.

In Boyolali, severe drought has affected thousands of people
living on the foot and slopes of mount Merapi.

Boyolali regency government spokesman Sugiyanto said the
government would soon deliver water to affected areas.

Water levels in Central Java's reservoirs have dropped
drastically during the dry season, including in the Grobogan,
Kudus, Pati and Demak regencies.

Local residents have taken advantage of drying reservoirs,
including the Kedungombo reservoir in Boyolali, by planting rice,
corn, soy beans and other crops on the fertile, dry beds.

"We use the dried reservoirs during the dry season for growing
crops, sometimes we fail because the water supply rises,"
Waginem, a woman from Dukuh Karang, Karanggeneng village, Kemusu
district, was quoted by Antara as saying.

Kedungombo multipurpose reservoir supervisor Prapto Subagyo
said the reservoir had a normal capacity of 590 million cubic
meters.

The reservoir can irrigate about 70,000 hectares of rice
paddies in the Grobogan, Kudus, Pati and Demak regencies, where
rice is harvested at a rate of five tons of dried, unhusked rice
a hectare.

The Agency for Meteorology and Geophysics predicted yesterday
that this year's rainy season was not likely to start until
December, three months later than usual.

Agency chief Sri Diharto also predicted that rain intensities
in the wet season would be "light" because of the early presence
of an El Nino storm.

Severe drought usually increases the incidence of forest
fires.

According to Diharto, it was impossible to conduct cloud
seedling at the present because clouds were still too thin for
that.

Cloud seedling will be possible in October, he added.
(39/01/24/har/pan)