Pests threaten rice harvest in Bengkulu, officials say

Pests threaten rice harvest in Bengkulu, officials say

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Pests threaten thousands of hectares of rice in South
Bengkulu, while food aid continues flowing in to 12 villages
facing starvation in Rejang lebong regency.

Muklis Ibrahim, chief of the agriculture office in South
Bengkulu, warned local people of the possible spread of the pests
to other regencies in the province.

"The spread of the pests to other villages and other regencies
will have a serious impact on rice levels in the province,"
Antara quoted him as saying in Bengkulu.

He conceded he had received many reports from government
officers in the field on the locally known wereng pest, which
have attacked dozens of hectares of ripe rice plants in the
village of Rimbo Kedui, Seluma subdistrict, in South Bengkulu.

The local administration has also called on farmers in
neighboring villages to spray pesticide to safeguard their paddy
fields.

"If the pest spreads to other villages in the regency and
beyond it will have a serious impact on local farmers and
jeopardize the province's rice stock," he said.

Separately, Mangsuri Thaib, chief of the local horticultural
office, said tens of thousands of hectares of paddy fields in the
regency would be threatened if the pest was not eradicated.

He said his office would continue providing necessary
information for local farmers on how to fight the various kinds
of pest and encourage them to plant rice seeds twice a year to
ensure that the province remains sufficient of rice.

"The province's self sufficiency in rice must be achieved in
anticipation of the possible long dry season this year," he said.

Meanwhile, the central government has pledged to distribute
100 tons of rice to more than 4,400 people facing starvation in
12 villages in Rejang Lebong regency.

Chairuddin, spokesman for the local administration, said the
office of the coordinating minister for people's welfare has
pledged rice assistance to help villagers who have faced
starvation over the last four months, because the pests forced
them to convert their farming land to coffee plantations.

The farmers could no longer purchase rice and other basic
commodities because of the falling price of coffee to Rp 3,000
per kilogram over the last 14 months in the province.

According to Antara, the situation in traditional markets in
the regency remains crowded but residents of the 12 villages have
no purchasing power because of the plunge in the price of coffee.

"The price of coffee has fallen drastically so that coffee
growers are no longer able to meet their daily needs,
particularly in basic commodities. That is why many villagers
have gone to forest areas to find substitute staple food," said
Cik Zainal, a resident of Cinto Mandi village in Bermani Ilir.

The local administration has also called on local people to
diversify their farming to support its food resilience program.

So far, residents of the 12 villages have received a total of
70 tons of rice as humanitarian relief from the family of
Sudirman Ail, chief of West Java Police, the local social affairs
office and a private TV station in Jakarta.