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They had a respite in November until early December, but it was not enough to water the plants, and the rain stopped in the second week of December, dashing the farmers’ hope for a good harvest.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Another potato farmer in the village, Nisem (also one name), 50, said she can only have about two hours of daily water supply for her plants, reduced from the usual four hours.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“I source the water from a nearby river, but there is not enough water as the river is dry,” she told Berita Harian, adding that she still managed to harvest recently despite the water shortage, even though the potatoes were stunted. The smaller potato size means she could only sell her harvest at a lowered price of 8,500 rupiah per kilogram from the usual 15,000 rupiah.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Miyanto and Nisem said they have no idea about the climate change buzz, but what is evidently changing for them this year is the planting pattern, weather, and temperature.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“This year’s dry season is longer and hotter than usual. I feel like it has been going on for two potato seasons or about eight months; normally, it would last about five months,” she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The prolonged dry season also means a higher possibility of the frozen dew phenomenon, or what locals refer to as embun upas, to emerge in Dieng, where it could be hot during the day in the dry season, but the temperature would drop to almost or even below zero degrees at night, and the plateau would be covered with frozen dew in the morning.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“City people would excitedly come to Dieng to see the frozen dew, but farmers here would cry because our plants would be dead frozen, and our harvested crops would also be frozen and rotten that we can’t sell them. It would mean a harvest failure for us,” Miyanto said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
While farmers in Dieng would stick to farming to maintain their plants despite the water scarcity, or occasionally turned to work in tourism services as the plateau is a major tourist destination in Java, vegetable farmers in Butuh hamlet at the foot of Mount Sindoro in Magelang, Central Java, had to temporarily switch occupation to construction workers in urban areas since they can’t farm due to water shortage.<\/p>\n\n\n
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“Only farmers who have a direct water source can continue farming, while others who don’t went down to the cities to look for temporary jobs,” hamlet chief Lilik Setiyawan told Berita Harian.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Indonesia’s meteorology agency BMKG said the dry season, which usually lasts from June to October, has been prolonged and intensified by the El Ni\u00f1o climate phenomenon or a situation when sea face temperature in the Pacific Ocean rises above the normal condition, and the Indian Ocean Dipole (IOD), or a seesaw-like weather phenomenon when one side of the ocean is warmer than usual, while the other side is cooler and would swing the other way. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The IOD is a natural climate phenomenon that can bring either heavy rainfall or drought, impacting agriculture and water resources.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
BMKG chief Dwikorita Karnawati said on Thursday that half of Indonesia, especially Kalimantan, has entered the rainy season, which will peak from January to April. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
While Java Island as the main growing region, Bali, and East Nusa Tenggara would experience little to no rain until early to mid-next year, causing disruption to planting pattern, further harvest failure, and reducing plant resistance to pests that are rampant in dry weather conditions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ruskiyah (also one name), a farmer in Puntang village of Indramayu regency in West Java, and about 110 farmers in the local farming community have suffered from the latter two impacts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n