Flood Submerged, 328 Hectares Of Rice Fields In Penajam, East Kalimantan Failed To Harvest

Floods In Panajam, Panzer, East Kalimantan (ANTARA)

BABULU - An area of 328 hectares (ha) of rice fields and several residential areas in Sumber Sari Village, Babulu District, Penajam Paser Utara Regency, East Kalimantan (Kaltim) were flooded, so that the rice fields were threatened with crop failure. "The water began to enter the rice fields on Friday (17/3) and into the settlements of Sumber Sari residents on Sunday due to the overflowing Long River," said Head of the Penajam Paser Utara Regency Regional Disaster Management Agency (BPBD) Marjani, quoted by ANTARA, Monday, March 20. Since the water entered, until now the joint teams of volunteers and residents have carried out several treatments, such as stemming using sacks filled with stacked soil between 2-3 sacks along the point where the water enters the Sumbersari. He explained, on Friday (17/3) there was an increase in water level (TMA) in the border area of Sumber Sari Village (PPU) and Sebakung Makmur Village (Paser Regency), then expanded to the rice fields in Sumber Sari Village and potentially extended to Gunung Mulia Village (PPU), due to water shipments from flooding that occurred in Long Kali District, Paser Regency., namely in RT 09 TMA in the house about 15 cm and in the yard of about 30 cm, "he said. Meanwhile, the Secretary of Sumber Sari Village, Arif Suryawan said, the fields submerged in Sumber Sari village were flooded and failed to harvest between 60-75 cm, so that there was water immersion in the last few days.

According to him, usually the average rice harvest in Sumbersari is 3 tons of milled dry unhulled rice (GKG) per ha, so that with the area of the submerged rice plant reaching 328 ha, Sumbersari residents will lose as much as 984 tons of GKG. He also said that the flooding that entered Sumber Sari was different from previous years, namely previously the water entered due to the overflow of embankments in the local area, then the embankment was increased so that it was safe, but this time the water entered through Sebakung Makmur Village.