West Bandung Distributes 157 Water Pumps to Mitigate 2026 Agricultural Drought

The Food Security and Agriculture Office (DKPP) of West Bandung Regency has taken proactive measures to secure rice production by distributing 157 water pumps to 13 sub-districts. The pumps, funded by the 2026 state budget (APBN), are intended to strengthen the irrigation system for farmland deemed highly vulnerable to drought. Lukmanul Hakim, Head of the DKPP in West Bandung, stated that without intervention, rice production during the second planting season of 2026 is projected to decline by approximately 10 to 15 percent. The distributed pumps are expected to irrigate between 785 and 1,500 hectares of agricultural land, depending on the geographical conditions and the availability of water sources in each recipient area. Data from Plant Pest Control officers indicates that at least 433 hectares of agricultural land in West Bandung are currently classified as threatened by drought, although no villages have yet experienced total drought conditions. In addition to physical aid, the local government is encouraging farmers to adopt cultivation strategies that are more adaptive to extreme weather. Throughout the first half of 2026, rice production in West Bandung Regency reached 144,851 tonnes of dry harvested grain, and the government remains optimistic about achieving the annual target of 265,368.2 tonnes.