RECURRING floods have affected crops across more than 10,000ha of agricultural land in West Java.
The Jakarta Post said heavy rains had been recurring for the past few months over the province.
The Agriculture Agency said that the rains inundated 13,324ha of the province’s 166,715ha of agricultural land.
“If the floods do not recede within the next three days, all the rice crops will be ruined,” said the agency head, Hendy Jatnika.
He said the provincial and regency administration would assist affected farmers by providing rice seeds for replanting.
“Agricultural experts and instructors are now assessing the flooded farms across the province.
“Among the 15 affected regencies are Cirebon and Subang, where 3,917ha and 3,051ha of rice fields have been inundated,” he said.
Statistics Indonesia’s 2018 Intercensal Agricultural Survey showed that West Java was home to around 1.88 million farmers.
Agricultural experts have warned that climate change had begun to affect food production in parts of the country.
They have also urged the government to introduce programmes to mitigate the impacts.
Bustanul Arifin, a professor of agricultural economics at the University of Lampung, warned that Indonesia could suffer food scarcity if the government failed to address the impact of climate change.