Jakarta (ANTARA) - The Agriculture Ministry has distributed production equipment and agricultural machinery assistance to farmers in West Lombok district, West Nusa Tenggara (NTB) province, to mitigate the impact of El Nino.Director for agricultural irrigation at the Directorate General for Agricultural Infrastructure and Facilities at the ministry, Rahmanto, said that his party has provided four-wheeled tractors, two-wheeled tractors, transplanters, and water pumps to farmers in Kebon Ayu village, Gerung sub-district.
The El Nino phenomenon, which has been forecast for July 2023, is expected to trigger a long drought and thereby, lead to a fall in agricultural production, he noted, according to a written statement received on Thursday.
Hence, his party has also helped the local community to establish a 700-cubic-meter agricultural pond to maintain water availability in the region as well as improve three tertiary irrigation networks for channeling the water from the pond to agricultural land.
The ministry will also build five agricultural roads in the village to help the farmers transport their produce, thereby reducing production costs. Rahmanto said he expects that the farmers will utilize the assistance optimally to maintain their productivity and prevent a food crisis amid El Nino.
According to Kebon Ayu village head Jumarsa, the establishment of agricultural roads in the village will significantly help increase local agricultural productivity, considering that most of the residents make a living as farmers.
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Meanwhile, head of agricultural infrastructure and facilities at the West Lombok Agricultural Office, I Nyoman Sugiartha, informed that the agricultural roads will be built in the northern part of the village.
According to information posted on the ministry’s website, an agricultural road is a transportation infrastructure built in a community's farming, plantation, or breeding area to ease the mobility of agricultural machinery and equipment It also makes it easier to transport agricultural products to storage houses, processing facilities, or markets.