Jambi could face food crisis: Official

JAMBI, Jambi: Batanghari residents in Jambi could face food shortages after a plague of rice pest locally known as hama wereng coklat destroyed 1,025 hectares of paddy fields in the regency.

"The pest attack came following an extreme change of weather," a Batanghari Agriculture Office official Darmawi said on Friday.

Darmawi said the areas worst-affected by the bugs were located in Pemayung district and the surrounding villages of Sungailias, Sungairumbai and Rantaukapastuo.

"A drastic change of climate, such as sudden heavy rain in the dry season, helps spread the pests," he said.

His office could do little to stop the insects apart from warning residents of extreme changes in the weather, he said. -- JP