1,814 hectares of rice fields were damaged by the Flood in Parigi Moutong, Central Sulawesi. Mystery Disaster

Baca Gituloh - Central Celebes, Indonesia - The government of Parigi Moutong Regency, Central Sulawesi, said that around 1,814 hectares of rice fields were damaged by the floods that hit Balinggi District on Monday (31/5).

"Based on the inspection, many rice fields were flooded and covered with mud material carried by the floods," said Moutong Supriadin, Head of the Technical Implementation Unit of the Balinggi District Extension Service, the Horticultural Food Crops and Plantation Service, Moutong Supriadin in Parigi, Wednesday.

He explained, the thousands of affected rice fields certainly greatly disrupted the planting and production processes, so the steps that needed to be taken as soon as possible were dredging the material using heavy equipment.

If this is not handled immediately, it is feared that it will have a negative impact on farmers' productivity in pursuing regional rice production targets, because Balinggi District is one of the rice center areas in Parigi Moutong Regency.

"There are around 43 hectares of rice fields covered with sand and pieces of wood carried by the current. The local government is trying to normalize the affected agricultural land," he said.

From the rapid assessment activities carried out by his party, the most severely affected rice fields were in Balinggi Jati Village and Lebagu Village, it was estimated that around 300 hectares of rice fields could not be planted with rice seeds because they were inundated and buried in mud material, then in other villages the level of damage was relatively small on average one to two hectares.

In lightly affected areas, it is certain that they will not experience planting failure, because the rice is still too young or around 19 to 20 days old, so replanting can still be done.

"Apart from that, post-flood irrigation recovery is also important in supporting the acceleration of rice production. Farmers have asked the local government to immediately bring in heavy equipment to clean up material scattered across the paddy fields, and the request is being sought," said Supriadin. ***

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