Thousands of hectares of rice fields in Central Java are threatened with crop failure due to flooding

Semarang - The Central Java Province Agriculture and Plantation Service said that thousands of hectares of agricultural land in a number of districts are threatened with crop failure due to floods that hit rice fields.

Head of the Central Java Distanbun, Supriyanto in Semarang, Tuesday, said that the agricultural land that was flooded was in the districts of Grobogan, Demak, Kudus, Jepara and Pati.

Based on data as of March 15 2024, he said, it was recorded that 4,381 ha of rice plantations in Grobogan Regency were affected by flooding with rice plants aged 5-100 days after planting (DAP).

"152 ha of corn land was also affected by the flood in Grobogan. The red onion commodity too. The land affected by the flood was 84 ha," he said.

For Demak, he said that at least 162 ha of rice land was flooded with rice aged 10-90 HST, then 765.76 ha of shallot land was also affected by the flood.

In Kudus Regency, he said, as many as 2,776 hectares of rice land aged 10 to 90 HST were affected by flooding, followed by a number of other commodities, such as melons and chilies.

"There are 63 hectares of melon crop land and four hectares of chili land affected (by flooding) in Kudus," he said.

Meanwhile in Jepara, he continued, 1,989 ha of rice land with an age of 30 to 80 HST was recorded as being flooded.

However, Supriyanto said that the worst impact on agricultural land was actually Pati, namely that 6,961.4 ha of rice land in Pati was flooded.

"In Pati there are 6,961.4 ha of rice fields affected with rice ages 10-80 HST. There are also corn fields with an area of ​​153.1 ha flooded in Pati," he said.

This data, he said, is likely to continue to develop, considering that the flood has not yet receded in the area so it cannot be ascertained whether puso or land damage due to flooding is yet to be determined.

Regarding the causes of flooding, he explained that high intensity rain was one of the causes of flooding which affected agricultural land on the north coast of Central Java.

"Apart from that, there are rivers that cannot hold water and the Lusi River embankment has broken again. We are still collecting data and facilitating flood management facilities," he concluded.