Jakarta,
Jan 26 (Antara) - The current floods that have displaced many residents
or forced them to evacuate in different parts of Indonesia, have also
caused considerable damage to the country's rice fields.
However the Ministry of Agriculture has predicted that on the national
scale the floods only affected about one percent of the country's
irrigated rice fields which totaled 7.23 million hectares.
Agriculture Minister Suswono said last week his ministry had yet to
receive complete and official reports on the acreage of damaged rice
farms due to floods this month. The ministry, he said, is still taking
stock of damaged plantation to know width of damaged rice fields and
identify those which required replanting.
"Rice fields categorized as having failed to give harvestable yields
are only about 0.6-0.7 percent," the minister pointed out.
He said that the Ministry of Agriculture is preparing 13,400 tons of
paddy seeds in anticipation of the damage caused to the rice plantations
as a result of natural disasters.
"The
newly planted paddy saplings have been worst affected. Thus, replanting
must be conducted," the minister said after attending a coordination
meeting at the state logistics board Bulog office.
The minister pointed out that his ministry was also ready to offer
assistance to the farmers whose rice plantations failed to produce
harvestable yields as a result of the natural disasters.
"An assistance of Rp3.7 million will be offered for each affected
hectare of paddy field, which failed to produce yields," the minister
noted.
He said that the natural disaster that hit various regions over the
past few days had not yet significantly disturbed rice production
target. "It is still below one percent of the total production," he
remarked.
Last year, Indonesia recorded a rice production surplus of 5.4 million
tons. The country's rice production reached 39.8 million tons, while its
rice consumption stood at 34.4 million tons.
The government hopes that this year's floods would not affect its rice
production target set at about 76.57 million tons of unhulled rice or
about 42 million tons of rice.
Therefore, the affected rice fields should soon be replanted with new
rice saplings. The ministry will provide assistance for damaged rice
fields. The assistance would be financed with a contingency fund made
available by the ministry.
The
funds will be used to procure rice seeds for farmers who suffer from
floods. Besides, the National Disaster Mitigation Agency (BNPB) will
provide assistance for other risks.
With regard to the government's target to achieve 10 million tons of
rice production surplus, the minister expressed his optimism it would be
achieved. After all, the government has set a number of strategies
through the Bukit Tinggi Action Plan announced by President Susilo
Bambang Yudhoyono during the World Food Day commemoration in Padang,
West Sumatra, last year.
So, the current floods in different parts of Indonesia are predicted to
have no significant impact on the rice production target as it is
estimated at only less than one percent of the total rice fields in the
country.
Floods have hit several provinces on the islands of Java, Sulawesi, Sumatra, Nusa Tenggara, Kalimantan and others.
Karawang and Suabang in West Java are among those worst hit by the
floods. At least 23,339 rice fields were inundated by flood waters in
Karawang. Head of Karawang Plantation Service Kadarisman said on Friday
that the flood affected rice farms were in the period of planting.
Floods have inundated over 23 thousand hectares of rice fields in tens
of subdistricts in Karawang for more than one week, he said. Floods were
triggered by torrential rains and the overflowing of the Citarum,
Cibeet and Cilamaya rivers.
Kadarisman hoped that the floods would not affect the district's rice
production target. Due to the floods, the commencement of the planting
period could be shifted to a later schedule, he added.
Other West Java district, which was affected by floods is Subang where
at least 19 thousand hectares of paddy fields were damaged after being
submerged by flood waters for one week.
"About 70 percent of the paddy fields are threatened with harvest
failures. It was too long for the water to inundate the rice plantation
causing rice stalks to decompose," Hendrawan of the local Agricultural
Service said on Saturday.
He predicted that the floods would disturb the district's rice
production target. "Farmers suffer relatively big losses, amounting to
about Rp3.2 billion," Hendrawan said.
Thousands of hectares of rice fields in Bekasi district, West Java, were also inundated by flood waters.
"At least 9,832 hectares were turned into a 'lake' as they were filled
with pools of water over the past one week," Farid Setiawan of Bakasi's
Agriculture, Plantation and Forestry Service, said on Friday.
He said that of the 9,832 hectares, 237.3 hectares were rice seedlings
and 9,595 hectares were paddy plantations. However, he said, the
affected rice fields could not yet be declared as having failed to give
harvestable yields.
"Affected rice fields do not always fail to be harvested. Harvestable
yields could be predicted only in the post-flood time after the floods
in the rice fields have receded the rains have stopped to fall. Now we
have made analysis only on data until January 20, 2014," he said.
On the national scale, the Ministry of Agriculture are still waiting
for official reports from various provinces whose rice fields are
affected by the current floods.
"We are still collecting data and waiting for official reports," Agriculture Minister Suswono said.***3***
(T.A014/f001 )
(T.A014/A/A. Abdussalam/F. Assegaf) 26-01-2014 13:16 |
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