Built Since 1996, These Are A Series Of Benefits Of The Sermo Dam In Kulon Progo

PU Minister Dody Hanggodo while inspecting the Sermo Dam in Kulon Progo Regency. (Photo: Doc. Ministry of Public Works)

JAKARTA - The Sermo Dam in Kulon Progo Regency is believed to strengthen water resource infrastructure support in order to achieve food self-sufficiency as launched by President Prabowo Subianto.

The Sermo Dam was built in the 1994-1996 period and is still one of the dams used to supply agricultural irrigation. Routine maintenance is carried out optimally, so that the level of sedimentation remains under control.

PU Minister Dody Hanggodo said the Sermo Dam is one clear proof of how well-maintained infrastructure is able to become the backbone of food security, in line with President Prabowo Subianto's Astacita.

"This dam is actually one of the dams that does not have irrigation canals. So, the irrigation uses existing rivers and we control them with dams," said Dody in a written statement, Tuesday, August 12.

It is known that the dam has a watershed area of 21.3 square kilometers (km) with an inundation area of 1.57 square km and an effective volume of 20.905 million cubic meters, irrigation services covering an area of 3,150 hectares (ha) spread across Kalibawang, Kokap and Nanggulan sub-districts.

The water from the Sermo Dam is channeled through the Pengasih Dam to the Pengasih Timur River (821 ha), Pekasih Barat (1,206 ha) and Bendung Peklik Jamal (1,067 ha).

The 26.34 km primary channel and the 118.81 km secondary channel ensure that water distribution runs smoothly to agricultural land.

The use of the Sermo Dam has provided benefits to increase the farmer's planting pattern from 215 percent to 273 percent, so that rice production in the service area reaches 49,087 tons of harvested dry unhulled rice (GKP) or the equivalent of 41,723 tons of milled dry unhulled rice (GKG) every year, with an average productivity of 6.04 tons per hectare.

During a visit to the dam, Dody had a direct dialogue with the Association of Water User Farmers (P3A) and the Association of Water User Farmers Association (GP3A) Kulon Progo.

The farmers conveyed various aspirations and field constraints, ranging from irrigation network maintenance to the need for strengthening the institutional capacity of farmers.

Dody menyatakan, komitmen pihaknya untuk terus memperhatikan dan menindaklanjuti masukan tersebut, guna memastikan fungsi bendungan dan saluran irigasi berjalan optimal sepanjang tahun.

"Harapan kami, karena harga gabah ke depan semakin meningkat, pupuk semakin lancar, jalan-jalan produksi pertanian terus kami perbaiki, kesejahteraan petani terus meningkat sesuai dengan harapan Bapak Presiden dan Indonesia swasembada pangan," pungkasnya.

Dody stated that his party's commitment to continue to pay attention and follow up on these inputs is to ensure that the function of dams and irrigation channels runs optimally throughout the year.

"We hope that, because the price of unhulled rice in the future will increase, fertilizers will run smoothly, we continue to improve agricultural production roads, farmers' welfare will continue to increase as expected by the President and Indonesia to be self-sufficient in food," he concluded.