Yogita Tahilramani and Edith Hartanto, Mojokerto – Rising at dawn everyday, 60-year-old grandfather Hardjo prays long and hard before he prepares himself for work in the dry, rock-hard fields of Suru village, in the drought-ravaged district of Dawarblandong, Mojokerto regency, East Java.
"I have not tasted rain since April. That is all I can pray for. I have ... no hope for my corn field," Hardjo told The Jakarta Post recently as he massaged his blackened, swollen feet while resting on a patch of parched ground in the corn field which has produced nothing since March.
As he has not earned any money from his corn field, his family only eats corn left from the March harvest. To save the corn, he and his family eat once a day. Corn is a lot cheaper than rice.
Hardjo is one of thousands of farmers in East Java who are suffering due to the dry season which came too early this year.
East Java is home to 35 million people, of whom, 22 million are farmers, including fishermen. Most of those farmers plant rice, corn and soybeans. The early arrival of the dry season has caused many to suffer, especially those planting rice, corn and soybeans.
According to official data, at least 4,440 hectares of paddy fields across the East Java province have been hit by drought, and another 150,000 hectares of rice, corn and soybean may dry up.
While most farmers are suffering due to the drought, there are also those who have benefited from the early dry season, especially the tobacco farmers.
That is why the government has postponed its plan to try cloud seeding to create rain in Central Java and part of East Java, in order to wait for the harvest of the tobacco farmers.
But these tobacco farmers number very few, compared to the total farmers in East Java, one of the country's rice producing provinces. Rice farmers will surely be the ones who suffer most as paddy fields require much water.
Rice farmers in Mojokerto, Lamongan, Kediri and Ngawi are among the hardest hit by the dry season. Some lucky farmers could still get water from their irrigation system.
Farmers in the drought-stricken villages of Puhsarang and Bobang of Semen district in Kediri, for instance, could still get water for their rice fields, but getting the water is a problem. Farmers in these villages are each given about 15 minutes a week to water their fields from the irrigation system, using the Bruno river as a water source, which is only enough to make their fields wet for one day. Many farmers, however, chose not to use their turn to water their fields as it really could not help save to their rice fields.
The dry season has caused the farmers, especially rice farmers, to endure many hardships this season. Many farmers and their families have had to subsist on a cheaper diet, eating only corn and dried cassava. Not only that, many of them also have to live on borrowed money.
Many farmers cursed the central government and the regional administrations for making their life difficult by cutting fertilizer subsidies. Many farmers claimed that they were in debt due to the rising cost of fertilizers.
Kastari, a farmer in Suru village, is one of them. "In February I sold one ton of corn and earned Rp 750,000 (US$83). Most of this went to my neighbors to pay off my debts ... money I had borrowed to feed my family and pay for fertilizer. After paying that off, I borrowed money again since I need to feed my family. It's a vicious cycle," Kastari said. "The government should subsidize the cost of fertilizers." Currently, one 50-kilogram sack of urea costs farmers Rp 60,000 a kilo.
Imam, another indebted farmer in Suru, said he would soon ask one or two of his three children to drop out of school since he could not afford to pay the transportation cost of Rp 1,000 per child per day. "I cannot afford Rp 3,000 every day for my kids. Besides, who can afford to pay the school fees, books and uniforms, when there is nothing to eat?"