Farmers face imminent crop failures in Lampung

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.