Drought Effects 3,091 hectares of Rice Filed in SE Sulawesi

Kendari, SE Sulawesi (Antara) - Southeast Sulawesi has been reeling under the impact of the drought that has caused some 3,091 hectares of rice fields to dry out at present. Of the total number, 1,109 hectares were completely destroyed, while 1,982 were at a high risk of being completely damaged, Muhammad Nasir of the Southeast Sulawesi agricultural office stated here on Thursday. If the province fails to receive rainfall in the near future, then the dried rice fields cannot be saved, he pointed out. Southeast Sulawesi currently has a total of over 118 thousand hectares of rice fields spread across 10 provinces. This year, the province added 2.4 thousand hectares of new rice fields, thereby increasing the total number of productive rice fields to an area of 95.4 thousand hectares. The dried paddy production in Southeast Sulawesi reaches between 620 thousand and 650 thousand tons. Southeast Sulawesi has, so far, supplied four thousand tons of rice each to Central and North Sulawesi provinces. According to Forecast II 2014 (ARAM II), rice production in Indonesia has declined by 0.94 percent as compared to that in the same period last year due to the drought, the Central Bureau of Statistics (BPS) said. "The decline in rice production has been attributed to scarce rainfall and the decrease in rice field acreage in Java," BPS Chief Suryamin stated in Jakarta on Monday. Based on the ARAM II 2014, Indonesia's dry unhulled rice production is projected at 70,607,231 tons, which is 672,478 tons lower than the production recorded in the same period in 2013. The productivity of paddy fields also dropped by 0.24 quintals per hectare from 51.52 quintals per hectare in 2013 to 51.28 quintals per hectare in 2014, he noted. (*)