Had Flood Constraints, Demak Panen Raya More Than 500 Thousand Tons Of Dry Grain

Harvest illustration (ANTARA/HO-Humas Kementan)

DEMAK - In the midst of uncertain weather, Demak Regency, Central Java managed to harvest the highway. This was conveyed by the Ministry of Agriculture (Kementan) on an occasion.

Launching Antara, about 560 thousand tons of dry unhulled rice from the land area reaching 48,791 hectares has been picked up.

"In Demak, farmers managed to harvest rice on land of tens of thousands of hectares or about 560 thousand tons of dry unhulled rice. Although there were a few problems with the harvest at the beginning of the harvest period due to flooding," said Director General of Food Crops at the Ministry of Agriculture Suwandi in a statement in Jakarta, Sunday.

According to Suwandi, with the rice harvest in Demak Regency covering an area of 48,791 hectares, the price of unhulled rice fell.

He appreciated the Demak Regency Government for continuing to oversee agricultural roads in their area so that it could harvest up to 560 thousand tons of dry unhulled rice.

"According to the direction of the Minister of Agriculture, Mr. Amran Sulaiman, the rice farming sector must be the main focus in meeting food needs in the region. Thank God this is going according to the direction of the Minister of Agriculture, to focus on monitoring the development of rice farming plants in the region," he said.

Suwandi explained, in Demak Regency, the local government has succeeded in overseeing and ensuring that rice farming runs well.

He said that when Demak, Grobogan and Kudus regencies were hit by a flood in early February 2024, the Ministry of Agriculture provided 10 units of combine developers in Demak, 10 units in Grobogan and five units in Kudus were managed as harvest brigades.

He assessed that the progress of the harvest period being carried out by farmers in Demak Regency will help reduce the high price of rice in the area.

"This will certainly stabilize rice prices in the region and also help food needs nationally," he said.

Suwandi said that according to BPS data, nationally from March to April it entered the main harvest with the potential to produce 8.5 million tons of rice.

"This is a good momentum to be absorbed and partly used as stock, anticipatory steps have been taken to handle the harvest and post-harvest during the rainy season and movement after it is harvested to be immediately processed and planted again in order to catch water," said Suwandi.

Meanwhile, the Regent of Demak Eisti'anah revealed that the area of rice crop land in Demak Regency, Central Java, harvested reached 19,710 hectares or the equivalent of 40.39 percent of the total rice plant area of 48,791 hectares until March.

"Of the 40.39 percent of the land area harvested, the total production ranges from 151,000 tons of harvested dry unhulled rice," he added.

He estimates that all rice crop land in Demak Regency will be harvested in April 2024.

He said that if all rice crop lands covering an area of 48,791 hectares were harvested in the first planting season, the total production would be around 560,000 tons of harvested dry unhulled rice. The impact of flooding that occurred in February 2024, said Eisti'anah, was indeed very impactful because it was recorded that 3,280 hectares of rice plants were ready to harvest puso.

"Even though there is something that wants to be harvested within a week, but flooded," said the regent.

Nevertheless, Eisti'anah is optimistic that the total rice production in Demak Regency in 2024 can still meet the needs of the people in Demak. Because so far, Demak Regency has always had a rice surplus.

Separately, the Head of the Department of Agriculture and Food in Demak Regency, Agus Herawan, added that the rice harvest season is expected to end in April 2024.

This, said Agus, was due to several sub-districts whose plants had postponed from schedule, from November 2023's plan, to postpone to December 2023 and some had just started January 2024.

"Hopefully, when it is harvested there will be no pest attacks, so that farmers will not suffer losses because the current selling price of grain is also starting to fall," he said.

Agus hopes that the selling price of dry unhulled rice will not fall again, because this week the selling price has dropped from the previous Rp8,400 per kilogram, now to Rp7 thousand per kilogram.