Pests threaten rice in Bengkulu

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 on Wednesday.

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.