Farmers Can Now Survive on Brackish Land
Cokrowolo, 48, stands besides his brackish land in Nyamplung Sarivillage, Petarukan district, Pemalang regency, Central Java,on Friday (1/9). Since last month farmers have enjoyed good harvests after utilizing superior seeds developed by Jenderal Soedirman University in Purwokerto. With the seeds, the yield on the brackish land has doubled.
For decades, farmers in the coastal district of Pemalang, Central Java, had been unable to do much with the brackish land in the area, until finally a bit of research and technology gave it new life.
Now, high salt-resistant rice seeds enable the farmers to work with the brackish land.
A smile came to the face of Cokrowolo, 48, a farmer of Nyamplung Sari village, Petarukan District, Pemalang, Friday afternoon, when he witnessed the expanse of farmland in front of him. A clump of 30-cm high rice plants stood firmly on dry and cracked ground.
On the land, several weeks ago, the farmers rejoiced. For the first time, they gained a success as farmers. Their harvests were twice as big as their usual rice production. "Previously, to produce 4 tons of unhusked rice per hectare was difficult. However, in the current harvest, we are producing 8 tons per ha,"said Cokro with a smile on his face.
Cokro is aware that only about 700 meters from the shore, the land in his village is unreliable. The land is far from irrigation sources. In addition, as the rice fields are also adjacent to ponds and small rivers, they are often flooded.
Usually, the farmers can only plant the rice during the rainy season. Not to mention, with high salinity levels, rice plants often died. There was not much they could do, if the rice harvest was low. Some transformed the land into fish and shrimp ponds.
However, crop failure for them has become history. At the beginning of the planting season in May 2017, they tested a seed called Inpari Unsoed 79 Agritan developed by General Soedirman University (Unsoed) in Purwokerto. Although initially pessimistic, farmers were finally satisfied. Cokro said it would take 90 days from planting to harvest. However, the farmers needed to take more time to look after the new rice variety.
"With three times fertilization and quick action when attacked by pests, the result is satisfactory. The land of about 100 ha planted with superior seeds can give maximal production,"said Cokro who is also the chairman of the Sidomakmur Farmers Group in Nyamplung Sari village.
According to Cokro, the superior Inpari Unsoed 79 Agritan seeds are more resistant when planted in brackish land. In fact, the production of 8 tons per ha is higher than that in the areas located near the primary irrigation network at Pemalang, which ranges from 6 tons to 8.7 tons of unhusked rice per ha.
Good quality
For decades, farmers on the land with high salinity levels always lost money because the harvests were never optimal. Their income could only cover the production cost, which amounted to about Rp 9 million per ha. In fact, they were often unable to cover the costs because they earned only between Rp 6 million and Rp 7 million.
In addition to low productivity, the quality of rice was not good and the price was lower in the market. If the price of the dried unhusked rice from other areas was between Rp 3,400 and Rp 3,600 per kilogram, the rice from the brackish land was priced only at Rp 3,200 per kg.
However, with superior seeds, farmers will have a better future. "This is because the quality of rice is good so the price in the market is high. Not only resistant in land with high salinity, but the new variety can also compete with other rice,"said Cokro.
According to Cokro, rice produced from the new seeds has a better shape. The head of Nyamplung Sari villge, Kholif Sujai, said that of the 450 ha of farming land in his village, 150 ha was brackish land.
Besides being directly adjacent to the pond, the saline area is also the last area to receive water from the irrigation network. As a result, during the drought season, soil is dry and could not be planted with rice.
In fact, some of the fields were converted into other functions. While some of the farmers had to accept the situation despite the low production, because they only owned brackish land.
However, as a number of farmers, who planted Inpari Unsoed seeds, achieve good harvests, farmers have begun to think of restoring the function of the land to rice fields. Not only farmers in brackish land, but also in normal land, have agreed to plant the new seeds in the next planting period.
The Inpari Unsoed 79 Agritan seed breeder, Suprayogi of the Department of Agriculture at Unsoed University said the new variety he developed was a cross of Cisadane and Atomita-2 rice varieties. This variety passed through a series of resistance tests in eight locations of high-saline land in West Java, Central Java, and West Nusa Tenggara.
The variety can be grown on soils with low acid content, ranging from 4 to 5 pH, such as in Pemalang with salinity levels of 0-12 decisiemens per meter. "In Tegal, although the land experimented with Inpari Agritan seeds soaked in weeks of floods, farmers can still harvest. Whereas, usually they could not, "he said.
Idle land
The Inpari Unsoed 79 Agritan seed is disseminated through the incentive program of the Research, Technology and Higher Education Ministry with funding of Rp 800 million. In addition to Pemalang, trials are also conducted in other coastal areas, namely Tegal, Kebumen and Cilacap.
According to the director of the Post Graduate Program and senior researcher of the Department of Agriculture at Unsoed University, Prof. Totok Agung, before the Inpari Agritan, Unsoed had also developed a number of other superior seeds. For example, the Inpago Unsoed I variety, which is resistant to drought and aphid pests, and has a high productivity, good shape and nice fragrance.
The university had also developed the Inpari Unsoed Parimas variety which has a high iron content so it is useful for women and can potentially prevent anemia. Totok said that with the new varieties, dry land that had been abandoned could now be used as farming land.
With the conversion of the agricultural land of about 100,000 ha per year, domestic food production no longer needs to rely on rice fields with ideal conditions. With these superior seeds, farmers have a better opportunity to prosper. For the government, the optimization of infertile land in coastal areas can help achieve self-sufficiency in food production amid massive land conversion.
