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.