Grasshoppers swarm W. Kalimantan

By Edi Petebang

PONTIANAK, West Kalimantan (JP): Crop-eating grasshoppers (Locusta migrata) have swarmed much of the province, triggering fears of a food shortage there this year.

Pak Bayer, 40, a farmer in Desa Tanjung, Jelai Hulu subdistrict, Ketapang regency, says that the pests came in unusually large swarms and have caused the widespread destruction of food crops.

He says a fellow farmer in Jelai Hulu subdistrict, who lost 1.5 hectares of paddy crops in a single night, committed suicide in desperation. Another farmer in Marau subdistrict in Ketapang regency reportedly lost his mind after finding that his crops were devastated.

Such sad stories abound about farmers who have lost their crops overnight. Rice paddies are the grasshoppers' main target. Other crops like cassava are safe -- the insects don't like sappy plants such as rubber and cassava.

The outbreak began in April and reached its peak in October, ravaging eight of Ketapang's 15 subdistricts.

Syamsu Akhyar, chief of the Ketapang's agricultural affairs office, predicted that the regency may suffer from food shortages this year due to the pests.

In Tumbang Titi, Marau, Manis Mata and Jelai Hulu -- the worst affected subdistricts, and West Kalimantan's largest rice producers -- farmers have replaced their devastated paddy with cassava and corn.

The Ketapang regency government has made numerous efforts to eradicate the pests, such as catching and burning the grasshoppers and applying insecticides, but has met with only limited success. It attempted to offer a reward of Rp 1,000 for each kilogram of grasshoppers caught. However, the project stopped after two weeks because the catch was just too sizable. In two week's time, 5,500 kilograms of grasshoppers were brought to the government from three subdistricts.

Each village in the affected areas have held traditional rituals to ward off the pests. Ketapang regent Sunardi Basnu has ordered residents to try everything possible to stop the drove.

The calamity is the second of its kind since 1968. Farmers say that the swarm used to come every 20 years when the cycle subsequently shortened to five years, and further to two years.

Farmers say that the fast breeding grasshoppers moved into the forest every time they sprayed insecticides. According to Syamsu, each grasshopper lays up to 500 eggs.

"The animals are extremely greedy. The drove could devour 1-2 hectares of food crops a night," said Unjang, a farmer in Tumbang Titi.

Dwindling forests

In the past, farmers recall, the pests affected only a limited area and their invasions lasted a much shorter period of time. But since 1995, the stricken areas have been increasing.

Some farmers say that it is a divine curse for what people have done to the environment.

"I give up. I've done all I am supposed to do (to eradicate the pests) but to no avail," said Sinyo, a Dayak Jalai from Marau.

Environmentalists attribute the pests to the large-scale deforestation projects which make way for oil palm plantation projects, especially in Ketapang.

Mateus Pilin, coordinator of the Community Based Forest Management System program, theorizes that as the forest is dwindling, grasshoppers are left with very few predators. Birds, for example, have moved as a result of lost habitat.

"Birds, the grasshoppers' main predators, have largely disappeared," Pilin says.

In the past, when forests were thick and predators abundant, grasshoppers hardly posed any problem. Their populations were properly checked.

Apparently, there is truth in Pilin's theory. The grasshoppers have plagued the areas where the forests have disappeared and been replaced by oil palm plantations, such as in Marau, Manis Mata, Jelai Hulu, Tumbang Titi and Kendawangan. There, thousands of hectares of plantations have been cultivated. The grasshoppers do not eat the oil palms as long as the paddy and corn are still available in the farmers' fields.

The animals normally feed largely on grass, food crops and coconut leaves. Now that the staple food is running out, they have begin to consume the oil palms as well.

Agricultural officials say that they have yet to find the most effective pesticides to eradicate the pests.

The pest related problem is a heavy blow for West Kalimantan farmers. It has arrived when the price of rubber, another main source of income, has plummeted. A kilogram of dried latex brings only Rp 1,200 - Rp 1,500 at the farmer level.

In the past, grasshoppers came only in the dry season and bred in the lowlands. They now have been found year-round breeding in plateaus and valleys.

Farmers have called on the provincial government to do more to eradicate the pests before they overrun the whole of West Kalimantan.

An official with the Ketapang Development Planning Board, Sikat Gudag, has proposed that the grasshopers be caught and made cattle feed.

Suparjiman, a Ketapang legislative council member, says that the regency government has not done their best to overcome the plague.