Rehabilitation of Moderately Damaged Paddy Fields in Bireuen 85% Complete, Target June Completion
INFO TEMPO – The Bireuen Regency Government targets the rehabilitation of flood-damaged rice fields classified as moderately damaged to be completed by early June 2026. As of 17 May 2026, the recovery process has reached 85 percent, or around 677 hectares of the total area being worked on.
Head of the Bireuen Agriculture and Plantations Service, Mulyadi, said the rehabilitation targets farmland belonging to about 1,470 families affected by the flood.
“We are targeting the rehabilitation of disaster-affected rice fields classified as moderately damaged in Bireuen to be completed by early June 2026,” Mulyadi told Tempo on Monday, 18 May 2026.
He said the total budget for rehabilitating moderately damaged rice fields amounts to Rp13 million per hectare. The disbursement that has been made so far stands at Rp6.3 billion. “The mechanism is like that – the budget is disbursed 70 percent first. After progress reaches a certain threshold, the next tranche is released,” he said.
The Bireuen Regency government previously proposed rehabilitating flood-affected rice land since February 2026. The total area of paddy fields proposed totals 4,764.94 hectares, comprising 2,756.60 hectares lightly damaged, 685.27 hectares moderately damaged, and 1,323.07 hectares heavily damaged.
For lightly damaged fields, the Survey, Investigation, and Design (SID) and the Preparation of Technical Design Details (DRT) prepared by Malikussaleh University, Lhokseumawe, have been completed.
Meanwhile, rehabilitation for heavily damaged paddy fields has not yet begun. The Agriculture and Plantations Service of Bireuen is still coordinating with the Ministry of Agriculture to speed up handling.
Mulyadi said the local government also proposed reallocating some fields previously classified as heavily damaged to moderate damage. He said the condition of the land has changed since the post-disaster survey conducted in November 2025.
“At the time of the initial survey, the indicator classified it as heavily damaged. Now that the water has receded and the land has dried, some fields have moved into the moderately or even lightly damaged category,” he said.
One indicator for heavy damage, Mulyadi continued, was that the field bunds were not visible due to flooding. But after the inundation receded, the bunds reappeared, so the condition of the land is considered improved.
Nevertheless, until now the Bireuen Regency government has not received a response from the central government regarding the proposal to reclassify the damage category.
In addition to land rehabilitation, Mulyadi emphasised the importance of repairing irrigation networks so that the reclaimed fields can be productive again. “Fields cannot be used if the irrigation system is still damaged,” he said.
As a temporary measure, the government has prepared dry-season rice for affected farmers. This type of rice is cultivated on dry land or fields that do not require flooding as in conventional paddy fields.
The first planting of dry-season rice took place in Pulo Siron Village, Kutablang District, on Saturday 25 April. The event was attended by the Director of Protection and Optimisation of Land at the Ministry of Agriculture, Dede Sulaeman, and the Deputy Regent of Bireuen, Ir. Razuardi.
“That planting marks the reactivation of 85 hectares of farmland that had previously been unusable,” Mulyadi noted.
This acceleration step in Bireuen aligns with the central PRR (Disaster Recovery, Rehabilitation and Reconstruction) mandate. Based on a coordination meeting with the Secretary-General of the Ministry of Home Affairs, Tomsi Tohir, on 30 April, the central government aims to restore 42,702 hectares of flood-damaged rice fields across Sumatra by August so that farmers do not lose the planting momentum due to seasonal and climatic changes.
Chair Tito Karnavian of the PRR Task Force previously stressed that accelerating rice field rehabilitation is essential for national food security as well as restoring livelihoods for affected communities.
“This is urgent, so there is funding from ministries and agencies. For example, the Minister of Agriculture is allocating almost Rp900 billion for agricultural irrigation, seeds, and others,” he was quoted as saying by Babel Insight.
“These lands must be made productive again so that the community can resume farming and the regional economy can move,” Tito emphasised.