The Aceh provincial government has set a target of irrigating at least 40,748 hectares of rice fields that could potentially be affected by drought during the dry season, a local government official said.
However, not all water pumping machines that the Ministry of Agriculture has provided for Aceh have been installed, the provincial government's acting secretary, Azwardi, informed here on Monday.
As a result, the total area of farmland that has so far been watered by water pumping machines has only reached 14,105 hectares, or about 34.62 percent of the targeted figure, he said.
Therefore, he urged regional governments to install all water pumping machines soon to allow paddy fields, which are vulnerable to drought, to be watered, as part of efforts to sustain Aceh's rice production.
As reported earlier, Aceh is one of Indonesia's main rice producers besides East Java, West Java, Central Java, South Sulawesi, South Sumatra, Lampung, North Sumatra, Banten, East Nusa Tenggara, and West Sumatra.
The total area under paddy fields in Aceh was recorded at more than 254 thousand hectares in 2023, while the total production of milled dry grain was pegged at 1.39 million tons and rice at 802 thousand tons.
President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) has said that the Ministry of Agriculture's water pumping program is aiming to help farmers deal with the impact of prolonged drought on their paddy fields.
Water pumping machines can derive full benefit from ground and river water to irrigate vulnerable rice fields.
A prolonged drought has been forecast in Indonesia in July, August, September, and October this year. The water pumping program is expected to help farmers boost rice productivity, President Widodo said.
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Translator: Rahmat F, Rahmad Nasution
Editor: Tia Mutiasari
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