The Jakarta Post, Jakarta, Mon, June 10 2013,
Agriculture Minister Suswono said that Indonesia would likely experience a year-long wet season, a condition that could have an impact on the country’s food production capabilities.
“This year, the Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysics Agency [BMKG] predicted that we’ll see repeat conditions of 2010 when we also had a year-long rainy season,” Suswono said as quoted by Antara news agency on Saturday during a visit to Batang regency in Central Java.
Suswono expected that with the wet conditions, the country would likely fail to meet its staple food production target.
The government had targeted that the country would produce 72 million tons of dry unhusked rice this year.
Last year, 69.05 million tons of dry unhusked rice was produced, a 5 percent increase from 2011.
Rice output growth over the last few years has strengthened projections for 2014, when it is estimated that the surplus could reach 10 million tons.
Suswono said that the extreme weather, coupled with poor infrastructure, would likely make the country fail to reach the 10 million surplus.
52 percent of the country’s irrigation system was badly damaged and it would cost at least Rp 21 trillion (US$2.1 billion) to fix it, Suswono added.
He said that the government currently had only Rp 3 trillion in its budget to overhaul the irrigation system.
With the overhaul, the country could boost its production of dry unhusked rice, Suswono continued.
“After the repairs, we could add 9.1 million kilograms to our production,” he said.
The BMKG had earlier predicted that the rainy weather would continue until August.
Indonesia’s dry season usually begins in April, but as of the second week of June, parts of the country continues to experience heavy rains, including Jakarta, where heavy precipitation has caused inundation in low-lying areas.
The agency has attributed the unusual weather to climate change and rising ocean temperatures, which affects weather patterns and have led to massive storms across the globe.
The agency said that some of the areas that will see heavy rains in the coming weeks are South Sumatra, Java, Bali, South Sulawesi, West and East Nusa Tenggara (NTT).
Local BMKG agencies also warned of rough seas in the coming days.
In Kupang, the local BMKG reported that waves could reach five meters in the waters of East Nusa Tenggara.
In Aceh, the agency predicted that waves could reach 4 meters high.
ma 10 jun 2013 - 7:27
