Late rainy season affects planting

SEMARANG, Central Java: The planting of rice and other crops in Central Java during the 1997/1998 planting season will cover a total area of 363,155 hectares, the head of local agriculture services, Widodo Gondowerdoko, said here Saturday.

Rice planting intensification programs will stretch over 169,784 hectares, or 15.3 percent of the 1.05 million hectares of the planned area, Widodo said.

He said that for corn and soybean, the figure was 193,371 hectares or 38.7 percent of 498,600 hectares.

The decrease in paddy and crop planting intensity is related to the late rainy season which, in turn, caused delays in other areas, he said as quoted by Antara.

"But I'm sure the food planting intensification program will be fulfilled," he said. "The planting of rice and other crops in several regions in Central Java was continuous, and moreover, we have enough stocks of seeds."

Central Java paddy production as of November had reached 8.3 million tons from 1.5 million hectares of rice field, or 98.8 per cent of 8.4 million tons of this year's rice production target, he said. (mds)