Threat of Prolonged Dry Season Looms, Ministry of Public Works Claims Food Security Remains Secure

Minister of Public Works (PU) Dody Hanggodo has ensured that national food security remains secure despite Indonesia’s potential to face a prolonged dry season this year. The government has prepared several anticipatory measures, including the construction of groundwater irrigation networks, pump irrigation programmes, and weather modification operations. Dody explained that conditions in several areas show that existing irrigation systems are no longer optimal, particularly local dams that are poorly maintained. This impacts the water supply to agricultural lands, leaving farmers reliant solely on rainfall. “Something like a dam, but it has been poorly maintained for a long time, so the rice fields in this area are no longer irrigated by the dam over there,” Dody stated during a working visit to the Boyo Dam, Sragen-Boyolali, Central Java, on Sunday, 29 March 2026. As a solution, the government is building groundwater irrigation networks (JIAT) to ensure water supply remains available outside the rainy season. At one inspected location, a borehole approximately 120 metres deep produces a water discharge of around 12–13 litres per second, irrigating about 20 hectares of rice fields. Nevertheless, Dody assessed that water distribution still needs optimisation through the construction of tertiary irrigation networks to make utilisation more efficient and reach more lands. “Hopefully, with tertiary networks, it will be more, because the water is more efficient; one pipe of water is more efficient, so the equivalent hectares irrigated will be more,” he said. He also warned that the main challenge will emerge after the September to October period, when many reservoirs begin to experience declining water volumes. This condition could disrupt irrigation for thousands of hectares of agricultural land. “Sometimes, when we were at the dam earlier, the reservoir’s life is only until September–October. So after October, it will be difficult,” he explained. To anticipate this, the government has prepared pump irrigation programmes in various areas, which will start being implemented around May or June. This programme is carried out in collaboration with the Ministry of Agriculture to maintain water supply to rice fields no longer reached by conventional irrigation systems.