Babel Makes 100 Hectares Of Rice Field Pumps, Threatened With Harvest Failure

Illustration of rice fields experiencing drought. (ANTARA)

PANGKALPNANG - The Department of Agriculture and Food Security of the Bangka Belitung Islands Province carried out pumping efforts in 100 hectares of rice fields in South Bangka to prevent crop failure due to the impact of the dry season and el nino.

"Alhamdulillah, more than 100 hectares of rice can be saved from drought," said Head of the Agriculture and Food Security Service of the Babel Islands Province, Edi Romdoni, in Pangkalpinang, Saturday.

He said this pumping assistance was a collaboration between the Babel Islands Provincial Government and the South Bangka Regency Government and the River Region Agency Council in overcoming the crop failure of the dry impact and climate change of el nino.

"The South Bangka Regency Government provides water pump machines and the Sungai Regional Agency Council helps provide fuel oil to irrigate water to dry up farmers' fields," he said.

According to him, currently there are many more agricultural lands that are starting to experience drought, so they are threatened with crop failure.

"If this dryness continues until December 2023, it is certain that rice fields will fail to harvest," he said.

He hopes that it will rain soon, so that there will be no failure in the harvest of rice fields which will have an impact on decreasing local rice production in this area.

"Yesterday there were several areas that had rained and hopefully the rain would fall evenly in the Babel Islands," he said, hoping that the rice fields would be watered again.