Farmers face imminent crop failures in Lampung

Oyos Saroso H.N., Bandarlampung

The effects of the dry season and a plague of rodents have sparked fears among farmers that harvest failures affecting thousands of hectares of crops across Lampung province are imminent.

Some parts of the province are already feeling the effects of the dry season, which started to kick in a few weeks ago. The worst-hit regencies are West Lampung (55 hectares of crops), East Lampung (257 hectares), South Lampung (2,500 hectares), Tulangbawang (5,000 hectares) and Tanggamus (28,000 hectares).

In order to help farmers save their crops, the Lampung provincial administration has provided a couple of dozen water pumps to farmers in Tanggamus, said Masdulhaq, the director of the Lampung provincial government's agriculture agency.

At least 3,000 hectares of unirrigated rice fields in Rawajitu district, Tulangbawang regency, have completely dried up. As a result, many farmers in North and South Rawajitu districts, for example, have abandoned their rice fields altogether.

A South Rawajitu rice grower, Sugiharto, 45, said that farmers who previously planted their fields with various second crops, were now leaving their fields fallow as they expected the crops would fail due to lack of rain.

Farmers are also complaining that even if there was enough rainfall, the irrigation canal constructed for transmigrant settlements in the Rawajitu area 15 years ago would no longer be able to channel enough water to the rice fields as it had become shallow due to silting.

Besides the water shortage and infrastructural deficiencies, a plague of rodents in Daya Murni subdistrict in Tulangbawang regency has destroyed more than 100 hectares of ready-to-harvest rice.

A local farmer, Karyono, 40, said he had suffered millions of rupiah in losses as 14 hectares of his rice fields had been ravaged by rodents.

At least 2,000 hectares of unirrigated rice in Katibung district, South Lampung regency, are now parched and threatened with failure, while around 500 hectares of ripening rice have been ravaged by rodents.

Pests have also devastated the rice crop in Central Pesisir district in West Lampung.

The chairman of the Gunung Maju Farmers Association, Hendri Yusri, 37, said that rodents were even attacking one-month-old rice plants. He said that the pests had also ravaged the rice crop during the previous planting season in February.

Data from the Lampung government's food crop office stated that previously unirrigated rice fields in Katibung were now benefiting from irrigation schemes.

Nevertheless, large areas under rice are still reliant on rain in a number of subdistricts in Katibung, including Pemulihan (165 hectares), Purwodadi (221 hectares), Sukamaju (267 hectares) and Banjarsari (337 hectares).

The water flow from the Way Sulan dam and Sulan river, water sources for farmers in Katibung, has now dropped due to the effects of the dry season, and water is no longer available for irrigation purposes.

Farmers in Tanggamus regency may also be facing crop failures as the water flow from the Batutegi reservoir and Way Sekampung river has dropped drastically with the result that no water is available for their rice fields, even though their crops have started to ripen.

Tanggamus Farmers Irrigation Association (PPPA) chairman Indra Prayogi said that if there was no rain over the next 15 days, 28,000 hectares of rice could be lost.

He expressed disappointment that water from the Batutegi reservoir was not being provided for irrigation purposes to local farmers, despite the fact that it was still being provided to farmers in other areas, such as in Central Lampung and Metro.