Farmers learn how to use herbicides

Farmers learn how to use herbicides

KAPUAS, Central Kalimantan (JP): The mega-rice estate project in Kalimantan is a physical challenge to the government, but other aspects pose more potential threats to the project's success.

Humans are the main factor in such a huge project.

Aside from having to design a virtually blunder-proof plan to convert one million hectares of unique peat soil into rice fields, the government must also train farmers and familiarize them with new farming methods.

Local farmers have long cultivated the peat soil using traditional farming methods, but they -- and perhaps the transmigrant workers who will soon be shipped to the area -- have yet to learn the new "zero-tilling" techniques reportedly more appropriate for such a huge area.

In zero-tilling, weeds are cleared by spraying fields with herbicides. The method allows for easier land preparation.

Ridwansyah, a farmer from Mampai village, after harvesting rice grown on a 1,000 hectare experimental plot which applied the new farming techniques, admitted that he had become very dependent on herbicides.

"The technique is simple and it saves us from the back pains of using the tajak for land clearing," he said.

The tajak (traditional 40 cm long curved knife) is said to cause up to 20 injuries a month.

Ridwansyah was trained in the proper use of the spraying equipment, but many untrained farmers, who can easily buy the harmful chemicals at kiosks in their villages, use the equipment without proper protective clothing.

J. Ekowarso, the executive chairman of the National Pesticide Commission, said farmers must be thoroughly trained before they are allowed to handle or use herbicides.

"Herbicides containing paraquat are currently sold for limited use, so only farmers that have special licenses and have gone through intensive training are allowed to use them," he insisted.

Many herbicides are sold in markets, albeit through a single distributor, and their use by untrained and unlicensed farmers goes mostly unnoticed.

The herbicides applied in the 1,000 experimental plot include Para Col and Gramoxone, both of which contain paraquat, a highly toxic contact herbicide. Reports state the chemicals cause eye irritations and respiratory problems, all of which can become chronic.

To legally use the chemicals, farmers must obtain permission from the National Pesticide Commission in Jakarta after gaining recommendation from a number of government offices, including the ministries of manpower, health and agriculture.

James R. Hudson, the president of PT Zeneca Agri Products which produces the herbicide, contends that the Britain-based company continuously studies and tests the brand names to limit the negative effects of paraquat.

"The formulation of the products has been changed and new technologies have reduced the risks that might ensue, without reducing the product's effectivity," Hudson said.

He said training farmers is presently Zeneca's number one priority. In-the-field training is being conducted by government officials and Zeneca personnel.

But officials are still wary of the products.

Fauzi Mahfoed from the local agricultural office's Plant Protection Division said the government is still careful in applying the paraquat herbicides.

"The farmers still lack skills and knowledge," he argued.

Ekowarso said the government's decision to limit -- through heavy red tape -- the use of products containing paraquat since 1979 was meant to protect farmers and the environment.

"The government is very consistent about this... It is for the farmers' safety," he said. In developed countries, he said, farmers can get permits to use such chemicals more easily because they are well-educated.

"If producers can guarantee that farmers in Indonesia will be totally safe using the chemicals in spite of their low level of education, the government might consider easing the regulations," he said.

Hudson acknowledged that the regulations Zeneca have to work with in Indonesia are difficult and the company disagrees with the limitations imposed on its products.

"But we must live with them, and we will," he said.

"We will continue to provide the latest data on our products. Continuous studies and tests are conducted in our labs, together with the advances in technology. Our job is not to change the regulations; it's the government's job to review them," he said.