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A strong El Niño weather pattern has suppressed rainfall over a wide swath of southeastern Asia during 2015 and early 2016, and is currently affecting the Indonesian archipelago. Rainfall in Indonesia’s prime rice growing areas on the islands of Java, Sumatra, Sulawesi, and Kalimantan has been erratic and deficient, forcing farmers to delay planting well beyond the optimal period during the wet season which traditionally runs from October through April. Planting typically begins with the onset of rains in October and is completed by late November. This year, many farmers had to delay rice planting into late January and early February. The wet season is the most important rice growing period of the year, supporting both irrigated and rainfed grain farming. Rainfed rice area and production in particular are at their peak during this season, with more than a million subsistence farm families dependent on the rainfed crop for their livelihoods.