Farmers face harvest failure

JAKARTA (JP): Farmers in Tangerang are facing failed harvests as a result of a jump in the population of snails and rats in their paddy fields in the city's coastal districts.

"Snails and rats eat young rice stalks," Jalirun, a farmer, was quoted by Antara as saying on Saturday.

The 42-year-old Jalirun and fellow farmers Sukandi, 41, Tamiat, 38 and Suntal 39 -- all of them were residents of Pekayon district -- said they had tried to exterminate the pests using several methods, all of which had failed.

"We tried a traditional way to drive the rats away and we sprayed chemicals into their holes, but both methods failed."

The cost of pesticide to combat snails has reached Rp 15,000 (US$1.36) per bottle and was a major financial outlay for the farmers. It is not known how many bottles the farmers had to buy to treat all of their fields.

The head of Mauk district, Lili Rojali, said snails and rats had badly damaged crops over 2,050 hectares of land. Pekayon district has been the worst hit.

Farmers in Sepatan and Pakuhaji districts said their harvests would not even reach three tons per hectare because of the pestilence.

Lili said that the case had been reported to the local agriculture office in the hope that the office would assist farmers eradicate the problem. (emf)