CLIMATE-FRIENDLY FARMING METHODS
Central Java is one of Indonesia’s largest rice-producing provinces, contributing more than 16 per cent of the country’s total rice output.
Rice farmer Kasno, from the Grobogan regency, said many farmers were initially hesitant about adopting the climate-friendly farming methods.
“Most of them are quite traditional,” said the 55-year-old, who is among 172 farmers taking part in the research institute’s Decarbonising Rice Project.
“They were worried that such projects might not succeed or could lead to crop failure. But after we explained the methods and how everything would be done, the farmers gradually accepted it.”
Before joining the project, he typically harvested around six to seven tonnes of rice per hectare. After adopting these methods, his yields have increased to about eight to nine tonnes.
His profits have gone up by about 30 per cent, said Kasno.
Farmers involved in the trial were provided with rice seeds, fertilisers and pesticides.
The first planting season began last September and ended in February this year, covering nearly 100 hectares of rice fields.
“The results were positive and we could increase the yield of the farmers by 6 per cent even though it was flooding,” said Ramachandran Srinivasan, a senior principal investigator at the Temasek Life Sciences Laboratory.
