Ministry Of Agriculture Relys On Land Identification Facing The Impact Of El Nino

Residents show dry rice fields in Pasie Jambu Village, Kaway XVI, West Aceh, Aceh, Thursday (8/6/2023) BETWEEN PHOTOs/Syifa Yulinnas/foc

JAKARTA - Minister of Agriculture (Mentan) Syahrul Yasin Limpo said land identification and grouping were part of a strategy in dealing with the impact of El Nino which is predicted to occur in the second semester of 2023, with its peak in August 2023.

The Minister of Agriculture said that every incident of El Nino or extreme sea level temperature warming has the potential to cause drought of around 560 thousand to 870 thousand hectares of land. Meanwhile, during normal times it only affects 250 thousand hectares of land.

"For this reason, some of the efforts that will be made are identification and mapping locations affected by drought, as well as grouping into red, yellow and green areas," said Minister of Agriculture Syahrul at a Working Meeting with Commission IV of the DPR as reported by ANTARA, Tuesday, June 13.

According to Syahrul, the grouping of regions aims to increase the availability of water in places prone to extreme drought.

Another effort made by the Ministry of Agriculture is to accelerate planting to catch the remaining rain, increase the availability of agricultural tools and machines (alsintan) to accelerate planting, and build or repair reservoirs, ditches, deep wells, infiltration wells, rehabilitation of tertiary irrigation networks, and pumping.

In addition, the Ministry of Agriculture also provides seeds for drought, develops centralized and independent organic fertilizers and provides support for financing people's business loans (KUR) and agricultural insurance.

Syahrul said El Nino had the potential to cause forest fires and agricultural land, crop failure, lack of clean water, drought and increase the intensity of pest attacks.

"For this reason, it is necessary to anticipate and adapt in an effort to reduce the impact on reducing food production capacity," said Syahrul.