Sawah Fails To Harvest The Impact Of Southeast Aceh Floods Covering An Area Of 267 Hectares

Illustration - A farmer checks a 20-day-old shallot plant that was flooded in Kalinyamat Kulon Village, Tegal, Central Java, Wednesday (1/1/2020). BETWEEN PHOTOS/Oky Lukmansyah

BANDA ACEH - Aceh's Agriculture and Plantation Service (Distanbun) said as many as 267 hectares of rice fields in Southeast Aceh Regency experienced crop failure or puso due to flooding triggered by high rainfall in this area some time ago.

Head of the UPTD Center for Food Crop Protection, Horticulture and Plantation of the Aceh Distanbun, Zulfadli, said that the flood that occurred on August 17, 2023, caused 664 hectares of rice land to be submerged, but not all of them experienced crop failure.

"For only 267 hectares of rice land, puso from a total of 664 hectares has been hit, the rest (water) has receded," said Zulfadli as quoted by ANTARA, Thursday, August 31.

He explained that the rice fields affected by the flood were spread across nine sub-districts, namely Bambel District, Tusam Hill, Lawe Sumur, Semadam, Lawe Sigala-gala, Lawe Alas, Tanoh Alas, Babul Rahmah, and Lawe Bulan.

"On average, puso plants due to flooding are between 10-25 days old after planting (HST). We have proposed seed assistance to the central government," said Zulfadli.

In addition to planting land, his party also noted that 77 hectares of rice nurseries were flooded, and 41 hectares of them also experienced puso.

The nursery or area land for the flood-affected seed processing activities is spread across two sub-districts, namely Bambel covering an area of 62 hectares and Lawe Sumur 15 hectares.

"Persemaian yang puso di Bambel seluas 33 hektare dan di Lawe Sumur delapan hektare, sisanya surut lagi," katanya pula.

In addition to rice plants, he added, his party also noted that 119 hectares of corn land in Southeast Aceh were flooded, and 57 hectares of land were also experiencing puso.

The corn fields affected by the flood were scattered in Bukit Tusam, Lawe Sumur, Semadam, Bambel, and Lawe Bulan sub-districts.

Previously, the Aceh Disaster Management Agency (BPBA) reported that flooding in Southeast Aceh had occurred since Thursday (17/8), and continued to spread to 10 sub-districts triggered by high rainfall intensity.

The affected areas include 23 gampongs (villages), six gampongs of Lawe Sumur, five gampong Semadam, and eight gampongs of Bukit Tusam District.

Furthermore, Lawe Bulan District has five gampongs, Babussalam three gampongs, Tanoh Alas two gampongs, Lawe Sigala-Gala four gampongs, Lawe Alas two gampongs, and one gampong in Babul Rahmah District.

The affected victims as a result of the incident reached 8,101 people in 2,230 families (KK) spread across 59 villages in 10 sub-districts in Southeast Aceh.