42 Thousand Hectares Of Agricultural Land In Drought Garut, 291 Disir Air Pump BPTPH West Java

Illustration of farmers working in the fields in the fertile season. (Daniel Klein-Unsplash)

West Java (West Java) Food Crops and Horticulture Protection Center (BPTPH) conducted water pumping for agricultural land affected by drought in Garut Regency.

Garut Regency's Plant Disturbing Organism Control Coordinator (POPT) from BPTPH West Java Province, Ahmad Firdaus admitted that the pumping was carried out on an agricultural area of 291 hectares alias Ha. The total land affected by drought in Garut is around 42 thousand hectares.

"We carried out a drought management movement, including borrowing water pumps to drought locations and providing assistance in the form of facilitation for fuel," he said in Garut, Monday, September 4, which was confiscated by Antara.

He said the drought-hit agricultural land management program was carried out in collaboration between the Garut region BPTPH and the Garut Regency Agriculture Service.

Efforts to overcome the land affected by the dry season, he said, were carried out jointly according to Permentan Number 80 of 2012 which made observations and reported data on drought in the agricultural sector from the POPT, then the Garut Agriculture Service procured water pumps and oil fuel assistance.

"Incidentally, the Garut Agriculture Service already has a field of protection, so that collaboration can be more intense in terms of handling this drought," he said.

He revealed that productive agricultural land in Garut Regency was recorded at 42 thousand hectares spread over 42 sub-districts, then those reportedly affected by drought until August 31, 2023 were recorded as cumulatively 291 hectares.

The level of drought impact on agricultural areas, he said, varies, some are entering a mild, moderate, and severe drought or are threatened with puso with a rice planting age of more than 30 days after planting (hst).

"Those affected by drought are diverse, but the majority are already over 30 hst," said Ahmad.

Regarding the puso, said Ahmad, it was reported that 22 hectares were spread over 15 hectares in Selaawi District, and 7 hectares in Pasirwangi District with a rice age of around 75 to 100 hst.

"As of August 31, 2023, according to the 22 hectare report, it is certain that in the next period the puso area will still increase, because there are 29 hectares of heavy categories," he said.

However, agricultural officers in the field and farmers, he said, are currently trying to take advantage of water sources from the river to deal with dry agricultural land so as not to use puso.

He conveyed that in the field a number of farmers had already carried out self-help handling by means of sickles, namely utilizing irrigation water by rotating and pumping.

"We have also institutionally implemented this drought handling movement in three locations, Peundeuy District, Toblong Village on August 25, 2023, Pelundeuy District, Saribatti Village on September 3, 2023, and today in Pameungpeuk District, Jatimulya Village," said Ahmad.

He hopes that the pumping effort by pulling water from below to the top ground of the agricultural location can save agricultural areas affected by drought.

"For some river locations, handling can still be carried out, but there are also rivers where the water discharge is very lacking, as is done in Peundeuy District, we use water sources from the Cikaengan River," he said.