ID :
78231
Thu, 09/03/2009 - 23:06
Auther :

DROUGHTS GIVE S KALIMANTAN 40,000 HA OF POTENTIAL CULTIVATION LAND

Banjarmasin, S Kalimantan, Sept 3 (ANTARA) - Protracted droughts in South Kalimantan over past three months have turned about 40,000 heactares of marshland into dry plains suitable for agriculture and plantations, a provincial official said.

Properly managed and cultivated , the former wetlands could considerably increase the level of West Kalimantan's food resilience, Fakhruddin, head of the province's National Unity, Politics and Community Protection Agency, said here Thursday.

But to make the lands really useful for the people, the West Kalimantan governor had asked the heads of districts where the naturally opened lands were located to install water pump systems that could keep the soil's water under control during the rainy season.

Without proper pumping systems, the lands could not be optimally used for agriculture or plantations because then they would be submerged again during the rainy season, he said.

The dried up marshlands were located among others in the districts of Banjar, Tapin, South Hulu Sungai(HSS), Central Hulu Sungai(HST), North Hulu Sungai (HSU) and Barito Kuala.

He said in the past , South Kalimantan usually had wet dry seasons but this year the dry season was marked by prolonged droughts and this caused the marhslands to dry up.
Meanwhile, about the fact that the number of hot spots in South Kalimantan during the present dry season had increased to 558, Fakhruddin said the figure was not yet concerning.

He said the haze produced by the hot spots in South Kalimantan was still not as bad as that in Central Kalimantan, and therefore, there was as yet no need for artificial rain to exstinguish the forest and land fires.
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