In
an hour or two, water - salty and muddy - will fill the freshly
dug hole. Sunardi, and scores of other residents in Karanganyar
village in Central Java province, then take the water home to
drink, wash and irrigate their slowly dying crops.
"The drought in this village has been felt since April, and
there has been no rain until now. The wells in this area have
dried out, so residents can only get water from the river bed,"
Sunardi, who only goes by one name, told Reuters.
"The plants here, such as corn, have all withered. Tobacco can
live, but it doesn't grow optimally, so we have to keep watering
it with the river bed water too."
Sunardi's village has been digging up the river bed since June,
when the water in their wells ran out.
Indonesia's weather agency (BMKG) said the El Niño weather
phenomenon, which brings prolonged hot and dry weather, is
affecting more than two-thirds of the vast nation, including all
of Java, the northern areas of Kalimantan and all but the
coastal areas of Sumatra.
The population of those areas exceeds 70% of Indonesia's total
population of more than 200 million people, Ardhasena
Sopaheluwakan, deputy head of climatology at the BMKG, said.
Scientists say El Niño has caused record heatwaves in cities
from Beijing to Rome, increasing the risk of forest fires and
affecting crops such as wheat, palm oil and rice.
Agriculture accounts of nearly 14% of Indonesia's GDP, and a
third of the labour force works in farming, government
government data shows.
Tris Adi Sukoco, an official at the BMKG in Central Java, said
that with rainfall rates in the region drastically lower,
villagers like Sunardi should alter their crop patterns.
The farmer, however, said it was too late.
"Even if the river here is completely dry, we'll have to find it
wherever it is," he said.
(Reporting by Budi Purwanto and Johan Purnomo; Writing by
Stanley Widianto; Editing by Miral Fahmy)
[© 2023 Thomson Reuters. All rights
reserved.] Copyright 2022 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published,
broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Thompson Reuters is solely responsible for this content.
![](column_spacer.png)
|
|