Dewi Sri Suffers Due to Prolonged Drought

Abdullah Fikri Ashri & Melati Mewangi

· 6 minutes read

In West Java, rice is synonymous with Dewi Sri, the goddess of rice and fertility. However, during the dry season, like what is taking place at present, the goddess, who has become the source of food for millions of people, is suffering due to lack of water.

In Cirebon, for example, rice stems are no longer green. They look reddish brown due to a lack of water. The brown rice grains are empty. The soil is cracked and many of the rice stems are wilting.

"I get a headache seeing the rice fields. They are getting red from day to day," said Suhadi, 53, a farmer from Lebak Mekar village in Greged district, Cirebon, West Java.

In fact, in around 20 more days, the rice should be harvested. However, let alone the harvest, the term of the yellowing rice has now become a strange word.

Most of the 1.75 hectares of rice fields he planted were destroyed by the drought.

“There is a quarter of a hectare is left. If there is no water for the next seven days, everything will fail miserably," said Suhadi, who rents the land for Rp 11 million (US$775) a year.

The irrigation channels that separate his house from paddy fields have long been dried, leaving plastic waste and leaves.

His expectation of producing 7 tons of unhusked rice at the harvest, has gone already. In fact, the rice he produced was not only used to support his family but also to strengthen social relations. During the harvest of the wet season (October-March), for example, he shared the rice with his relatives and neighbors.

Farmers also often contribute rice when relatives or neighbors hold thanksgiving ceremonies. That’s why Suhadi had to work like a dog to take care of his rice field. The father of three children rented a pump to water the rice fields at a cost of more than Rp 1 million.

However, water sources that are less than one kilometer away are also declining. Farmers from neighboring villages compete to suck up water with a pump. Puddles of rain in the former mining area in Astanajapura district have now become the sources.

In fact, for the first time, Suhadi bought water from a water company for the dried rice field. He bought the water for Rp 350,000 per tank containing 8,500 liters.

“A tank of water was only enough to irrigate rice fields measuring 6 meters by 6 m. Besides being expensive, the truck driver did not want to bring the water to the village because the road was bad.”

He spent about Rp 20 million to prepare his land, plant the rice and to take care the paddy field until harvest time. In fact, the cost was far higher than the Rp 15 million he spent in the previous years. The current drought is the most severe since 2015.

Muhamad Syakuro, 40, another farmer, chose to prepare a "lifeboat" because he was pessimistic about being able to harvest due to the prolonged drought. Most of his 3,500-sq meter rice fields have already turned reddish brown, indicating that most of the rice plants had been damaged.

"Now, I am a construction worker who earns Rp 50,000 per day," said the father of three children and one grandchild.

Farmers have tried to switch crops from rice to ground peanuts during the dry season. However, the peanuts are difficult to sell and also complicated to process because they have to be peeled. In fact, the price of peanuts is only about Rp 15,000 per kilogram, while milled rice is Rp 6,000 per kg.

Gambling

Farmers in Subang regency, another national food barn, were also forced to gamble with uncertain weather. While hoping for rain to fall, farmers continue to look for water. On Tuesday afternoon, the roar of the water pump in the Cilamaya River broke the silence in the rice fields in Tanjungrasa village, Patokbeusi district.

Tarkim, 72, a local farmer, had waited for hours for water to flow. Instead of water, there was mud. And it had cost Rp 70,000 to pay for fuel for the pump every day.

Santa, 64, a farmer in Tanjungrasa Kidul village, Patokbeusi, even stayed in the rice fields.

"I stand guard so that the water is not taken by others," he said.

These efforts were only a small part of farmers\' struggle during the dry season. The Subang agriculture office said that the drought threatened 2,600 ha of farming areas in the regency.

The target for this season is to harvest 93,891 ha of rice fields. Up to now, 20 pumping machines have been distributed in Compreng, Cipunagara, Pauaran, Cikaum, Patokbeusi and Binong Subdistricts.

According to the Cirebon agriculture office, the drought has destroyed 846 ha and potentially damaged another 4,459 ha in the regency.

With 930,334 ha of rice fields, last year, West Java owned the third-largest rice fields in Java after Central Java and East Java. Production reaches more than 9.3 million tons of rice per year, equivalent to more than 5 million tons of rice. Drought in West Java means a threat to national food production.

Efforts to save Dewi Sri must be done immediately because the Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysics Agency (BMKG) predicts that the drought in Cirebon, Indramayu, Majalengka, and Kuningan will last until October.

The head of the Cirebon Kontak Tani Nelayan Andalan farmer group, Kuryadi, hopes that extra work to anticipate the prolonged drought can be carried out by cross-sectoral governments. Some should be in charge of building and maintaining irrigation networks.

"In fact, dams in Guning Jati and Tawangsari, Cirebon, have been damaged for two years and have not been repaired," he said.

If the dams had not been damaged, they could have been able to irrigate more than 2,000 ha of rice fields. Now, because the two dams do not function well, they cannot collect rainwater. As a result, farmers often plant late because of waiting for the water.

In West Indramayu, the drought may remain a problem until the Cipanas Dam is completed in 2023.

The Jatigede Dam in Sumedang is not optimal because the water supply is constrained by the construction of a ring road. The reservoir is targeted to irrigate 90,000 ha of land in Majalengka, Indramayu and Cirebon.

Among the complicated problems, the thirst of Dewi Sri has not been treated. Hers face is getting red. She will either die or give happiness to the people around her.

Editor:

kompascetak DRY SEASON