Jon Afrizal, The Jakarta Post, Jambi
More than 1,300 hectares or 25 percent of total agricultural land in Jambi City, have suffered harvest failure due to severe flooding.
Jambi city’s head of agriculture, husbandry, fisheries and forestry, Teguh Wiyono, said on Thursday that the floods had inundated 1,642.35 hectares of agricultural land in Jambi city.
“Twenty-five percent of the total flooded land suffered harvest failure, while the remainder sustained relatively light crop damage,” he said.
Jambi city’s regional secretary, Daru Pratomo, said the inundated agricultural land was located across four districts in Jambi city: Danau Teluk, Jambi TImur, Perlayangan, and Telanaipura. Food crops devastated by the flooding included “palawija” or crops planted as second crops in dry season, such as legumes, and horticultural crops, he said.
In Telanaipura district, around 6.8 hectares of agricultural land, planted with food crops such as corn, Hindu cowpeas, peanuts and cucumbers, remain inundated. Meanwhile, floodwaters also inundated 325 hectares of a banana plantation. This land covers four subdistricts.
Meanwhile, 2.3 hectares of land in Danau Teluk district, which was planted with red chilis, cucumbers, eggplants, Hindu cowpeas and momordica - a green bitter and warty squashlike vegetable that grows on vines, are flooded. The floods also inundated around 600 hectares of banana plantations. This agricultural land covers three subdistricts.
In Pelayangan district, 0.3 hectares of Hindu cowpea plants and 200 hectares of banana plantations located in three subdistricts are flooded. Meanwhile, in Jambi Timur district, the floodwaters inundated 12.5 hectares planted with eggplants, cassava and other food crops,and 700 hectares of banana plantations located in three subdistricts.
Daru said the Jambi administration would prepare new seedlings to replace the food crops destroyed by the floods.
“We will distribute seedlings to the landowners free of charge,” he said, adding that no data was yet available on the financial losses due to the harvest failures. (ebf)