Bekasi Regency Government Prepares Compensation For Sawah Areas Affected By Floods

Floods in Karawang, West Java, (2/2/2023) (ANTARA)

BEKASI - The Bekasi Regency Government (Pemkab), West Java, has prepared steps to deal with rice fields affected by floods through short-term to long-term assistance schemes as a sustainable recovery effort.

"It is short, by distributing aid. Yesterday, we distributed 100 kilograms of seeds and 53,315 liters of liquid biological fertilizer to flood-affected farmers in Bekasi Regency," said the Sub-Coordinator of Food Crops at the Bekasi Regency Agriculture Office, Dodo Hadi Triwardoyo, quoted by ANTARA, Friday, March 3.

He explained that based on the latest data, as many as 8,560 hectares were classified as planting age of 1-100 days, 244 hectares of nursery land or seeds aged 3-25 days, and 20 hectares of rice fields were flooded.

His party will sort out which lands experienced puso or crop failure based on data on affected rice fields to ensure the difference in the impact of the disaster on the sustainability of rice plants.

"For the nurseries, if it is submerged for more than three days, covered in water, it must be puso, dead, because it is still small. If the plant, for example, only 30 centimeters inundated, the leaves can still be saved, can still be photosynthesized, 50 to 70 percent can still be safe, but if it is submerged for a long time even though it is 30 days old, but the leaves are not visible, it will definitely fail," he said.

Based on the data and classification, plus field checks on secondary water network sedimentation, his party then compiled long-term handling.

"First, the cause of flooding is the intensity of rain which is high, both of our drainages have started to decrease the function of irrigation channels, there must be normalization, so after the flood recedes," he said.

The normalization of this secondary channel is carried out by the Bekasi Regency Water Resources, Highways, and Construction Agency, while the Agriculture Service is only authorized to normalize the tertiary network which directly leads to rice fields.

His party has also proposed rice planting business insurance to the local government for all rice cultivation activities in the category of subsidies per hectare worth Rp. 38,000.

"Insurance schemes that can be claimed include damage due to plant disruption organisms such as wetting pests and the impact of climate change such as drought and floods," he said.

According to him, insurance that protects agricultural businesses is important considering the geographical location of Bekasi Regency, which is a lowland and downstream area of the river basin which is a factor causing flooding.