Bogor Regency Government Prepares 25,000 Hectares Of Rice Fields To Anticipate Harvest Failure

ILLUSTRATION PHOTO VIA BETWEEN

BOGOR - The Bogor Regency Government, West Java, has prepared Padi Farmer Business Insurance (AUTP) for 25,000 rice fields to anticipate the occurrence of puso or crop failure.

Bogor Regent Iwan Setiawan said the provision of the AUTP was more than doubled this year, compared to 2022 which was only 10 thousand hectares of rice fields.

"As part of the anticipation, (AUTP) we will increase it to 25 thousand hectares. Because since long ago BMKG has also predicted the impact of this drought," said Iwan as quoted by ANTARA, Thursday, October 26.

He said that the impact of El Nino had been predicted by the Bogor Regency Government through the Department of Food Crops, Holticulture and Plantation (Distanhorbun) for a long time.

Iwan hopes that this insurance can protect farmers from losses due to crop failure with an insurance claim of IDR 6 million per hectare. Various other efforts are also being made to minimize the impact of drought.

"We are coordinating with various parties, including the central government to deal with the impact of this drought," he explained.

Meanwhile, Acting Head of the Bogor Regency Distanhorbun, Tatang Mulyadi, explained that from the provision of AUTP 25 thousand hectares, until now only 16,800 hectares of rice fields have been insured.

"We continue to encourage those who have not confirmed their land to enter immediately. This is proof that the government is here to protect the farmers," he explained.

The insurance costs are borne by the Bogor Regency government and the central government. Thus, farmers no longer need to pay and simply register their rice fields with officers so that they are guided into the system.

So far, 41 farmer groups (poktan) have submitted insurance claims because they experienced puso with a rice field area of 221 hectares spread across 11 sub-districts, namely Sukamakmur, Cileungsi, Gunungputri, Citeureup, Klapanunggal, Rumpin, Tenjo, Nanggung, Cibungbulang, Jasinga, and Pamijahan.

Some of them have received insurance claims with different nominal according to the area of land.

In addition, said Tatang, Distanhorbun also recently distributed around 300 gas-fueled water pumps from the central government to help farmers overcome the impact of drought.

This assistance will continue to run because Bogor Regency is rationed at 664 water pumps to help irrigate its rice fields.

"We continue to coordinate with various parties, including with the central government to jointly deal with the impact of this drought. We are also preparing seed assistance for farmers so that when conditions make it possible to replant, farmers can quickly fill their fields," said Tatang.