Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
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A
gricultural Drought in Indonesia
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Indonesia is the largest archipelago in the world and comprises 5 main
islands and about 30 smaller archipelagos. In total, there are 13,667 islands
and islets, of which approximately 6,000 are inhabited. The estimated
area of the Republic of Indonesia is 5,193,250 km
2
, which consists of
a land territory of slightly more than 2,000,000 km
2
and a sea territory
of slightly more than 3,150,000 km
2
. Indonesia's five main islands are
Sumatra (473,606 km
2
); Java and Madura (132,187 km
2
), the most fertile
and densely populated islands; Kalimantan or two-thirds of the island of
Borneo (539,460 km
2
); Sulawesi (189,216 km
2
); and Irian Jaya (421,981
km
2
), the least densely populated island, which forms part of the world's
second largest island of New Guinea.
Of about 200 million ha of land territory, about 50 million ha area is
devoted to various agricultural activities. There is nearly 20 million ha of
arable land, of which about 40% is wetland (rice fields), 40% is dryland,
and 15% is shifting cultivation. In the early 1970s, agriculture contributed
about 33% to the gross domestic product. Its share decreased to 23% by
the early 1980s and to 16.3% in 1996. However, agriculture is the most
important sector in the national economy due to its capacity to employ
41% of the labor force (MoE, 1999).
Agriculture is vulnerable to drought. Ditjenbun (1995) reported that in
1994 many seedlings and young plants died due to a long dry season: about
22% of tea plants at age of 0-2 years, 4-9% of rubber plants at age of 0-1
year, 4% of cacao plants at age of 0-2 years, 1.5-11% of cashew nut plants
at age of 0-2 years, 4% of coffee plants at age of 0-2 years, and 5-30%
of coconut plants at age of 0-2 years. The impact of a long dry season
on yields of plantation crops becomes known only a few months later.
For example, oil palm production is known 6-12 months after a long dry
season (Hasan et al., 1998). Rice is the main food crop severely affected by
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