Farmers harvest despite drought

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)