Sad News Coming From Tangerang, Vegetable Farmers There Threatened With Harvest Failure Due To Floods

Illustration. (Photo: Doc. Antara)

JAKARTA - Vegetable farmers in Gempol Sari Village, East Sepatan District, Tangerang Regency, Banten are threatened with crop failure due to flooding that hit the area last Wednesday, January 19.

The head of the East Sepatan Farmers' Group (Poktan), Odo Septi, said that the vegetable land that was flooded by the overflowing river was currently entering the planting period. So that the farmers are threatened with crop failure and loss.

"Yes, there are many farmers whose land is affected by flooding. But if we don't have rice farmers, only vegetable farmers are affected," he said, quoted from Antara, Sunday, January 23.

He mentioned that the affected farmers' vegetable crops consisted of various types, such as long beans, kale, spinach, cucumber, chili and so on.

According to him, vegetable plants are not resistant to standing water because they rot easily even at the base of the stem.

"That's why we are now alert to deploy a water pump to anticipate this. And I also claim to the relevant parties to immediately repair water channels near riverbanks," he said.

He said that if this condition is continuously ignored and not handled immediately, the vegetable farmers in the area will suffer a considerable loss.

"Surely many farmers will lose if the conditions are like this," he said.

However, he said, currently the Tangerang Regency Agriculture Service has tried to ease the burden on the farmers affected by the flood by providing assistance in the form of vegetable seeds.

"After we reported that vegetable farmers were affected, the Agriculture Service immediately provided assistance in the form of plant seeds, such as kale, spinach and so on. Even rice seeds were given to anticipate in case of crop failure," he said.