BANDA ACEH - The Aceh Agriculture and Plantation Service (Distanbun) noted that as many as 1,716 hectares of paddy fields spread across a number of areas of Aceh experienced drought during the first semester of 2023.
"And those that have been destroyed due to the drought are 514 hectares in area. But it's not that bad compared to the puso due to flooding which reached thousands of hectares," said the Head of the UPTD Center for the Protection of Food Crops, Horticulture and Plantation for the Aceh Distanbun Aceh Zulfadli in Banda Aceh as reported by ANTARA, Tuesday, 25 JULI.
The area experiencing drought in the January-July 2023 period is North Aceh District with a land area of 897 hectares and 65 hectares of which are puso.
Then Bireuen covers 293 hectares and is entirely puso, Pidie covers 49 hectares and 11 hectares of which is puso.
Furthermore, in Aceh Besar District, 185 hectares of land experienced drought and 135 hectares of them were puso, 150 hectares of Nagan Raya, and 35 hectares of them were puso.
While tens of hectares of other paddy fields also experienced drought but no puso occurred, such as South Aceh Regency covering 94 hectares, East Aceh 30 hectares, Lhokseumawe 15 hectares, Aceh Barat Daya four hectares and Banda Aceh one hectare.
"Of the 1,716 hectares that were affected by the drought, 539 hectares were crop failure or puso, apart from that they have recovered," he said.
Every year, there are areas in Aceh that experience drought. However, this year this was also strengthened by the impact of two climate change phenomena namely El Nino and Indian Ocean Dipole (IOD).
There are areas that have never experienced drought before, but this year there is a drought like Nagan Raya Regency.
"In Aceh, the impact of the El Nino fire was not that severe. Unlike in Java. This year we have areas that have never experienced a drought before, but are experiencing drought, like in Nagan Raya," he said.
Baca juga:
In dealing with the potential impact of drought due to El Nino and IOD, the Aceh Agriculture and Plantation Agency has also prepared water pumps in the areas, so that they can be used by farmers to help irrigate the fields.
“If there is a source of water, the pump can be borrowed to irrigate the land. If there is a source of groundwater, we can also help by injecting wells, with a depth of 20 meters," he said.
The Aceh Agriculture and Plantation Agency has prepared 60 water pumps, including 24 units at the Banda Aceh Food Crops, Horticulture and Plantation Protection Agency UPTD, Banda Aceh Pest and Disease Observation Laboratory (LPHP) eight units, nine Pidie LPHP, East Aceh LPHP 10 units and Nagan Raya LPHP nine units.
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