Drought Due To Long Drought, Tanah Datar Regency In West Sumatra Threatened With Crop Failure

Rice fields in Tanah Datar Regency, West Sumatra. (ANTARA/Etri Saputra)

JAKARTA - Some areas in Tanah Datar Regency, West Sumatra are starting to dry out and are threatened with crop failure due to hot weather and damage to agricultural irrigation channels in the local area.

Community members in Jorong Kapuak, Koto Panjang, Nagari Barulak, Tanjung Baru sub-district, Eli Yarnis and Nelvi (30) admitted that the hot weather in the area for the past month has made the wells in their area no longer run.

As a result, he and several other people in the local area have difficulty getting clean water, especially for bathing, washing and latrine purposes.

"Our wells are dry, it's not enough to take a bath, it's also been dry before, but not as long and as badly as this," he said.

On the other hand, the people in Jorong Kapuak Koto Panjang Ponco are in danger of crop failure due to drought and the irrigation canal which was badly damaged after being hit by a flood about three years ago.

Although it has been reported and proposed by the local nagari government regarding the repair of the badly damaged irrigation, it has not been repaired.

Sudirman (63) said that since the dry season approximately one month ago, his rice fields have not been watering and are in danger of crop failure due to cracked rice fields.

"In the past there were irrigation canals to our fields, but they were damaged and have not been repaired. The only alternative so far is to expect an overflow of water from other fields that are connected to irrigation canals to our rice fields because of drought," he said.

The impact is that if the drought lasts for a long time, about tens of hectares of rice fields in the area will be threatened with crop failure.

"Our hope is that the farmers hope that the government, both nagari and district, will immediately repair the irrigation canals to our damaged rice fields," he said.

Elsewhere in Tanah Datar Regency, precisely in Nagari Rambatan, Rambatan Subdistrict also experienced drought due to the dry season that hit the area.

Local resident Ericka Yulidra Marta said that the dry season in Tanah Datar, West Sumatra which lasted for quite a long time had made people in the area to perform the Istisqa prayer or pray for rain.