Drought strikes suffering farmers as crisis continues

Drought strikes suffering farmers as crisis continues

Multa Fidrus, The Jakarta Post, Tangerang

Life is hard for thousands of farmers in the northern coastal
areas of Tangerang regency. After being hit by huge floods early
this year, now they are being attacked by drought which is
destroying their rice fields.

Since the dry season started in June, it hardly rains. About
15,000 hectares of paddy fields in three districts of Sepatan,
Mauk and Sukadiri, which are among the rice producers in the
regency have been affected. Farmers suffered harvest failure.
They complained that the fields they planted in July and August
could not grow due to the lack of water.

This condition had caused hopelessness to farmers. Some of
them even let their cattle eat paddy stalks in the rice fields.

Wasul, 45, a farmer in Sepatan district said that if rain did
not come in the next two weeks, his rice plants which had began
to bloom would die.

He said the regency administration had failed to anticipate
this year's drought would last as long as it had and inform the
villagers about it.

He said he had to wait until the rain came before he could
begin planting.

"But no one knows when the rain will come," he sighed.

Samilah, 53, another farmer who lives in Mauk district, also
blamed the harvest failure on the regency administration and the
local water and irrigation agency for not evenly distributing
water from the main irrigation canals of the Cisadane river.

"As a farmer, of course I depend on the water supply,
especially during the drought. I have debt to buy fertilizer and
other materials for my paddy. But now, drought has turned it all
dry and how can I pay my debt to the fertilizer store?" she said.

The mother of six children said she had no idea what to eat
later because she could not resume cultivating the rice fields
until the rain came.

H. Asmani, a public figure in Mauk district, accused the
regency administration of ignoring the farmers' plight. He said
the administration had only paid attention to several districts
that had industrial plants such as Cikupa, Balaraja, Pasar Kemis
and Tigaraksa.

He also complained about the pollution caused by the
industries, which affected farmers in Mauk and Sukadiri.

"You see, the water flowing through the Cicarab river could no
longer be used for farming. Many fish and ducks were poisoned and
died since the water has been polluted by industrial firms in
those districts," he said.

Besides that, Asmani said the dry paddy fields were also
caused the regency's resettlement and infrastructure agency which
was not fair in distributing water from the irrigation canals.

However, Supriadi, an officer in charge of distributing water
at a water irrigation sluice in Sepatan said that a new policy
was being applied during the drought.

"To water rice fields, we have to make distribution lists and
then share the water to farming areas alternately. This policy is
done in turns because water supplies from the main irrigation in
Sepatan and Cisadane river is much reduced," he said.

He said the system should be applied despite protests among
farmers, as it was the only way to do it.