Facing El Niño, Amran Prepares Pump Irrigation for 2.2 Million Hectares of Rice Paddies

JAKARTA, KOMPAS.com - Minister of Agriculture Andi Amran Sulaiman stated that his ministry has prepared pump irrigation for 2.2 million hectares of paddy fields to face the El Niño threat. Amran said the government is ready to face climate anomalies which BMKG says will occur sooner. El Niño is the phase characterized by a rise in sea surface temperatures in the equatorial central Pacific and reduces Indonesia’s rainfall. Amran said currently pump irrigation has reached 1.2 million hectares of rainfed paddy land. Outside of that, the government will add pump irrigation reach to 1 million hectares of paddy land. With the machines, water will be channeled from rivers, embungs (artificial reservoirs), deep wells, shallow wells, and other prepared sources. “So the infrastructure is ready. As if we prepared a shelter long before because we know it will rain,” Amran said. Not only the irrigation system, the Ministry of Agriculture has also prepared rice seeds that are more adaptable to dry climates. The government has also carried out optimization of 1 million hectares of land, including swamp paddy fields which are actually more productive during the dry season. As Minister of Agriculture, Amran admits that he has faced El Niño directly in 2015, 2016, and 2023. At that time, according to him, El Niño conditions were much worse than in 2026. “We personally faced it in 2015, 2016, then 2023, and it was far more devastating than now. So this is not something we should worry about. Okay?” he said. Quoting Kompas.id, the phenomenon of a drier dry season cannot be separated from the development of El Niño. “From mid-2026, our prediction shows a 50-60 percent chance of El Niño occurring with a weak-moderate category. Meanwhile the Indian Ocean Dipole is predicted to remain Neutral throughout 2026,” said BMKG Deputy for Climatology Ardhasena, on Wednesday (4/3/2026).