Farmers Are Happy Pidekso Dam Inaugurated By Jokowi: Previously Harvested Once, God Willing It Can Be Harvested 3 Times

President Jokowi at the Pidekso Wonogiri Dam, Central Java/PHOTO VIA ANTARA/BPMI Setpres

JAKARTA - President Joko Widodo inaugurated the Pidekso Dam, which is located in Wonogiri Regency, Central Java.

A number of farmers expressed their hope for the presence of the dam which has an inundated area of 232 hectares.

One farmer from Kebunharjo Village, Surahmin, said he was grateful for the construction of the Pidekso Dam. Surahmin said this dam will have tremendous benefits and can provide prosperity to the community.

"We are grateful and God willing, it will bring prosperity to the community. We previously, God willing, only harvested once or even twice, God willing, it will be three or four times," said Surahmin as quoted by Antara, Tuesday, December 28.

Surahmin also hopes that the irrigation benefits from the Pidekso Dam can be realized soon so that it can increase farmers' production. Currently, continued Surahmin, farmers' yields in one hectare in his village reach approximately 6 to 7 tons.

"We hope that later when the harvest reaches three times, maybe we can produce more from these crops," he added.

Similarly, another farmer from Balepanjang Village, Trianto, hopes that with the presence of this dam, food production in his area will be more abundant. The existence of this dam is also expected to be able to increase farmers' harvests by two to three times.

“Before there was a dam in Pidekso, so far what I have experienced has only been able to harvest once per year. Hopefully after the dam in Pidekso it can be two to three times post-harvest," said Trianto.

In addition, the farmers asked the government to pay attention to the tertiary irrigation network from the Pidekso Dam. Mariyono, a farmer from Ngancar Village hopes that the flow of water from this dam can be right on target.

"In the future, we hope that if the delivery channel arrives at my place, I ordered it because the tertiary irrigation channel is also not good, so I don't think the water can go directly to the target," said Mariyono.