Farmers harvest despite drought

SAMARINDA, East Kalimantan: Despite the prolonged drought affecting a large part of the province, some hinterland farmers managed to till their land and had a great harvest yesterday.

According to head of the local agriculture office, Sofyan Alex, farmers worked on three dried up lakes -- Semayang, Jempang and Melintang -- covering 3,300 hectares, in Kutai regency. The harvest yielded recently was five tons of dried unhusked rice per hectare.

"Hopefully, the harvest can be used to help overcome the rice shortage in the villages of Long Pahangai and Long Apari," Sofyan said.

Previous reports said some areas in the regency were on the verge of suffering a food shortage.

Kutai Regent M.A.M. Sulaiman said his office would also send 500 tons of rice to the two villages. He said the food shortage was because the Mahakam River, which was the main transportation route in the area, had dried up. He said his office had also set a Rp 184 million budget to fund the sending of the rice.

It usually takes seven days from Tenggarong city to the two hinterland villages by boat. (42)