Drier Drought This Year

KOMPAS/FERGANATA INDRA RIATMOKO

Farm workers plant seeds on Tuesday (25/6/2019) at a peanut farm in Plupuh district, Sragen, Central Java. The seeds were obtained for Rp 22,000 per kilogram from cooperatives. Farm owners in the area have switched from cultivating rice to cultivating peanuts so their farms would still produce crops during the drought.

JAKARTA, KOMPAS — This year\'s drought is predicted to be drier than the climatological norm. Several regions have not seen rain for more than two months, even though they have not reached the peak of the dry season.

About 35 percent of Indonesia is now entering the dry season, while 65 percent is still in the rainy season. The former regions include the northern and eastern coasts of Aceh, the northern areas of North Sumatra, southern Sumatra, Java, Bali, West Nusa Tenggara (NTB), East Nusa Tenggara (NTT), southeast Kalimantan, the western coast of South Sulawesi, the northern coast of North Sulawesi, the coastal areas of Sulawesi Central, some parts of Maluku and southern Papua.