Indonesia Forecasts Longer Dry Season

Whenever I head over to Bali during the month of October it is generally hot and I mean hot!. But hey, that's good if you want to crisp the skin a tad and down more coldies than usual.

But I have always been a lover of the wet season. In Bali the storms are not as intense as those in Java for instance and there the thunder rattles the windows and scares the absolute shit out of any hardened traveller. The lightning brightens the darkness of the day, and the rain incessantly falls for days.

My days of looking forward to the wet season seem to put on hold as Indonesia expects an extended dry season this year. Indonesia's monsoon season is from October to March.

Even worse, in parts of the world's largest archipelago it is drought that may threaten 16 percent of crops solely dependent on rains. About a tenth of the total land area in parts of Java and Nusa Tenggara may see the dry season until November according to Indonesia's Meteorology and Geophysics Agency

Delayed rains may affect crops such as rice and lower the purchasing power of farmers as the government tries to boost economic growth which the World Bank says may slow for the first time since 2001. There are about 20 million rice farmers in Indonesia.

Three-fifths of Indonesia's rice fields are in Java. About 59,000 hectares of rice fields were affected by drought in Indonesia, mostly in Java, from January through June while another 50,000 face such a risk this year.

The drought is not expected to hit Sumatra or the Indonesian part of Borneo Island where farmers grow oil palm trees. Indonesia is the world's second largest palm oil producer. Indonesia extended a ban on rice imports by five months to the end of the year because the nation has had a good harvest.