Badanas Relys On Pump And Reservoir Facilities To Maintain 1 Million Tons Of Rice Production Amid El Nino

Head of the National Food Agency (Bapanas) Arief Prasetyo when delivering a statement to the media/ANTARA

JAKARTA - The National Food Agency (Bapanas) relies on pump and reservoir facilities to maintain a national rice production rate of at least 1 million tons throughout this year's dry season. "The problem of water shortage is that we still have rivers, so that some rice fields can be irrigated by pumping from rivers," said Head of Badanas Arief Prasetyo at the Jakarta Presidential Palace Complex, Antara, Friday, June 14. He said the dry season this year was taking place amid widespread climate change in various parts of the world. President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) in his opening speech at the 2024 National Working Meeting (Rakornas) for Inflation Control at the State Palace in Jakarta called the current air temperature a climate hell marked by hot waves in India touching 50 degrees Celsius and Myanmar 45.8 degrees Celsius. "Currently climate change is not only in Indonesia. This climate change is happening all over the world. Now, the potential for the earth is heating up to 50 degrees Celsius, as in India. Then it was conveyed how many countries were above 40 degrees Celsius," said Arief. That means, said Arief, the majority of the plants will not be able to survive this temperature. Responding to this, Badanas relies on a program to install 20 thousand pumps in all agricultural areas affected by drought. "Then, there are also deep well pumps up to 150 meters underground," he said. In addition to pumps, Bapanas also relies on the existence of 61 reservoir facilities whose entire operations will soon be inaugurated by the President in the near future. Arief said, Bapanas also provides food balance reports as an indicator of the inflation rate that can be monitored at any time by local governments. "Every region must have a balance sheet of food, so we must know how much it needs to be produced. Then cooperation between regions, Bapanas, of course with Bulog, BUMN Food, we prepare government food reserves, that's what's important," he said. Arief hopes that all of these schemes can maintain the consistency of food-related authorities in Indonesia in maintaining national rice supplies of at least 1 million tons.

"The rice must be kept above 1 million tons. It has to be like that," he said.