EL NINO-INDUCED DROUGHT LIKELY TO FORCE INDONESIA TO IMPORT RICE By Fardah

  Jakarta, Oct 15, 2015 (Antara) - The current prolonged drought triggered by the El Nino natural weather phenomenon has hurt paddy harvests in parts of Indonesia as rice fields have dried up, owing to the paucity of rainfall.    
   Indonesia's Meteorology, Climatology, and Geophysics Agency (BMKG) had forecast a drought warning earlier that would affect regions south of the equator, such as parts of Sumatra, the Java Island, Kalimantan, Bali Island, East Nusa Tenggara, and Papua, until November or December this year.

        El Nino significantly reduces precipitation and leads to a decline in water reserves and droughts. Therefore, agricultural land and forests are the most likely to feel its impact, the Head of BMKG, Andi Eka Sakya had said on July 30.

        To cope with the drought, the government has provided water pumps as a short-term solution. As a long-term solution, the government is set to build thousands of small and large dams, and reservoirs at several locations.

        The impact of the El Nino-induced drought, which has been hurting Indonesia since May, has been reflected in rivers and dams drying up, harvest failures being reported in some parts of the country, and forest fires ravaging Sumatra and Kalimantan.

        In the Bengkulu province, Sumatra Island, for instance, un-hulled rice production in the city of Bengkulu halved during the first eight months of the year from the same period last year.

        The Head of the city's Agriculture and Animal Husbandry office, Matriani Amran attributed the drop in rice production to the long drought.

        Normally, the city's production of un-hulled rice is pegged at six to nine tons per hectare (ha), but this year the production is expected to only climb to three to four tons per ha.  
   In fact, Indonesia is reeling under the impact of the El Nino phenomenon as rice stocks have dwindled, and rice supply to regions has become limited, thereby leading to a hike in the price of the commodity.

        "Rice prices have increased by 10 percent over the last two months. It indicates that the stocks are decreasing," the Coordinating Minister for Economic Affairs Darmin Nasution, said in Jakarta on October 13.   
   Therefore, the government has decided to import rice, with the country's current stocks pegged at 1.7 million tons. Due to the prevailing weather conditions, the government plans to distribute the 13th and 14th rice rations among the poor this year.

        "We have reached agreements with Vietnam and Thailand. Based on the agreements, Indonesia will decide on the time of the imports. Once we make the request, they will need a month to dispatch the rice," Minister Darmin confirmed.

        He also quoted BMKG's forecast that the current El Nino phenomenon might be stronger than that experienced during the 1997-1998 period, when Indonesia was forced to import tons of rice.

        "We will wait until December, or November at the earliest, as rice harvests are still being carried out," Darmin noted.

        Meanwhile, in September, Agriculture Minister Amran Sulaiman had claimed that the ongoing drought would not affect the nation's rice supplies and made an assurance that the government would not need to import rice.

        "Rice stocks are secure for the next six months. State-owned Logistics Board (Bulog) has 1.7 million tons of rice in stock," the minister had said after witnessing a rice harvest in Mekarsari Village, Banyusari sub-district, Karawang District, West Java, in September.

        According to Amran, if rice production was boosted every year, Indonesia would become self-sufficient in the next three years.

        In order to boost rice production, the minister said the government had also signed a cooperation agreement with the Bogor-based Institute of Agriculture (IPB) to plant new varieties of rice.

        In the meantime, to control rice prices, President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) launched a market operation to distribute 1,034 tons of rice in five major cities of the country, earlier this month.

        Besides rice, six tons of beef and a truckload of sugar were also distributed as part of the market operation.

        The rice, beef, and sugar were meant for distribution in the markets in Jakarta, Medan in North Sumatra, Bandung in West Java, Semarang in Central Java, and Surabaya in East Java.

        "(This market operation) is aimed at preventing a price hike and to ensure that the prices remain at a normal and affordable level," President Jokowi stated.

        He reiterated that the rice stocks of Bulog were pegged at 1.7 million tons, which was considered safe.

        President Jokowi also said that despite Indonesia struggling with the effects of El Nino, the country would still be able to harvest its rice paddies.

        "There are reports about El Nino, but in the field there is the harvesting of paddy fields every month, because farmers continue with their work, despite El Nino," the President said while attending the harvesting of paddy fields in Sukoharjo District, Central Java Province on October 3.

        Farmers have rented water pumps, among other things, to irrigate their rice fields, he added.

        "Now, farmers receive water pumps from the Agriculture Ministry. This is an effort to make sure that the farmers do not remain idle," he noted.

        The government has been supporting farmers in increasing paddy production, the President noted.

        He added that his visit to Central Java was not for the harvest, but to make sure that one ha of rice fields produces 10 tons of rice, up from the earlier seven tons.

        Earlier, he too had said the national rice stock was adequate, therefore importing rice would not be necessary.

        "Our rice demand can be fulfilled by our farmers' rice production, no need for imports. Until this second, there are no plans to import, although we have received pressure from several quarters," the President said after visiting rice fields in Karawang, in September.

        There is also a potential stock of 15 million tons from next harvests until December.

        "It's adequate, and safe," President Jokowi remarked. Basically, the stock is adequate for December and January.

        "The future challenge is how to provide incentives to farmers to encourage them to produce more rice," he noted.

        Meanwhile, Bulog President Director, Djarot Kusumayakti said the El Nino weather phenomenon will continue to impact Indonesia till 2016 and could prolong the ongoing drought, delay the rice harvest season and impede rice supplies.

        "It is possible that El Nino's effect will continue till November and remain until the end of the year. If experts confirm such a condition, it will likely delay the harvest season," Djarot said recently.

        He added that Bulog currently has 1.7 million tons of rice stocks, of which 600 thousand tons are commercial rice and 1.1 million tons are stocked up under the "rice for the poor program (raskin)."
   Rice reserves will have to be procured for next year as current stocks won't last, especially since the weather is expected to be dry and could delay the harvest and hurt rice stocks.

        "If the harvest season is behind schedule, we must stock up well by the end of 2015. This could result in us having to import more rice, as it is a staple commodity," Djarot stated. ***3***

(T.F001/A/BESSR/A. A) 16-10-2015 00:08:48