Floods sweep farmland

BENGKULU: Farmland owned by some 450 families at a transmigration camp in Talo subdistrict, south Bengkulu, have been swept by floods following a breakdown in the drainage system.

Suprapto, a settler, reported the tragedy to Bengkulu Governor A. Razie Jachya during the latter's trip to the camp. He said most of the crops could not be harvested because of the floods.

The plots were originally a swamp area converted to farmland with the construction of a drainage system, Antara reported.

Another settler, Suranto, said his family and 60 others have decided to abandon the plots and look for a new location.

As many as 100 families, who hail from Central Java, have left the camp, some even returning to their original hometowns. (11)