Indonesia: Recent Floods Damage 70,000 hectares

According to a recent report released by the Indonesian government, the recent flooding during the past three months in Indonesia has inundated almost 70,000 hectares of rice fields causing harvest failures on 6,676 hectares.

The report has also predicted a rice deficit in January 2008 because production was estimated at 1.28 million MT while demand for rice in the same month was expected to reach 1.5-2.6 million MT.

During the last five years, an average of 69,500 hectares of rice fields per year have been affected by floods while harvest failure occurred on an average of 17,000 hectares per year.