Farmers rejoice in rare rain

Farmers rejoice in rare rain

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Farmers in the drought-ridden West Java regency of Indramayu woke
up to a much-anticipated heavy rain on Monday, even though it
only lasted one hour.

Antara reported that thousands of people along the northern
coastline of Java ran out of their homes to fill containers with
rainwater.

It was a welcome surprise for Indramayu residents, who have
been feeling the heat since the arrival of a drought two months
ago.

"It could have been better for us even though the rain lasted
just one hour. We could fill our barrels and tanks up with water
for our daily needs and water our farms and fields," said
Sujarwo, the wife of a farmer in Kepandean village.

The rain, however, was limited to the districts of Indramayu,
Sindang, Balongan, Jatibarang, Lohbener, Losarang and
Kandanghaur. The rest of the regency and many other parts of Java
remain dry.

Other farmers in Indramayu, however, told Antara that the
brief rain did not help the hectares of rice fields much and that
the threat of no harvest remains real.

"The rainwater could not satisfy the rice fields, which have
been scorched due to the water shortage," one of the farmers
said.

Irregular rain patterns, he said, would endanger the rice
fields.

Heavy rain also fell in the neighboring town of Cirebon on
Sunday night.

Dark clouds were seen over Cirebon, Majalengka, part of
Indramayu amd Kuningan on Monday afternoon, but heavy winds
dashed any hopes of more rain to relieve the dry soil in the
towns.

Farmers in Banyumas and Cilacap, Central Java have anticipated
the worst effects of the excessive drought, which may dash all
hopes of harvesting rice this year.

At least 60,000 hectares of rice fields in the two regencies
are facing this possibility, local authorities said.

The economic and development assistant to the regency
administration, Suyatno, has said that only 241 hectares of rice
fields were declared barren due to the drought so far, but that
amount could reach 30,000 hectares if the dry season continues
until the end of the year.

Suyatno told The Jakarta Post the local government was trying
to manage irrigation by allowing farmers to take turns at
watering their fields. The government has also planned to dig
deep wells to cope with the water shortage.

The regency, he said, needed 161 more wells to help farmers
evade the worst impact of the long drought.

In East Nusa Tenggara, local authorities have called on
residents to save water following a drastic decline in the water
supply recently.

Head of the provincial settlement and infrastructure agency
Piet Djami Rebo also told farmers to adjust crops to the current
dry season. He suggested that farmers avoid planting rice.