Anticipating El Nino; Indonesia to Prepare 500,000 Hectares of Lands

TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Indonesian Agriculture Minister Syahrul Yasin Limpo said that the government will prepare 500,000 hectares of agricultural lands to anticipate the long drought as the effect of El Nino.

"El Nino will bring drought, and drought means the water will be lacking and the temperature rising, causing agriculture productivity to slow down. We will prepare 500,000 hectares to anticipate El Nino," said Syahrul after a meeting in the Presidential Palace Complex in Jakarta on Wednesday, August 2, 2023.

Syahrul said that the ministry has routinely conducted inspections in the regions and examined rice production supporting facilities. "I just inspected several reservoirs and dams. For the bigger ones, the dams could hold up to six months without rain," he said.

The ministry also actively collaborated with the regional governments to anticipate El Nino. Syahrul claimed to have mapped the worst impacts on rice stock in Indonesia during the peak of El Nino in August-September 2023. "We have anticipated around 300,000 tonnes to 1,200,000 tonnes of rice production deficit. I have just visited seven provinces today, and they expressed their readiness to prepare agricultural lands for the national interest in the case of El Nino," he said.

The minister reported that the production areas to anticipate El Nino are located in North Sumatra, South Sumatra, Central Java, West Java, East Java, and South Sulawesi. Additionally, the government also prepares supporting areas for rice production in South Kalimantan, West Nusa Tenggara, Banten, and Lampung. Therefore, Syahrul is optimistic to control the effects of El Nino, preventing it to affect the national food stocks, especially rice.

According to the Agriculture Ministry, the rice price and stock is currently sustained. Until September 2023, said Syahrul, the government still has 2.7 million tonnes of rice stock. "Every month, harvesting 800,000 hectares of rice fields will sufficiently fulfill our need for around 2,000,000 tonnes of rice," Syahrul concluded.

ANTARA

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