Farmers face harvest failure

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)