Management of crop planting in the dry season 2020, an adaptation to the impact of drought for supporting the food security

Abstract

One of the impacts of climate change is the different of seasonal rainfall characteristics from year to year, thus the conditions for planting schedules and potential planting areas will also differ from year to year. At the beginning of the Dry Season 2020, the competent authority published that 30% of the season forecast zone in Indonesia was predicted to experience Below-Normal rainfall. This paper aims to analyze areas that have the potential to experience drought and recommend crop management in paddy fields in the Dry Season 2020. The methods are to identify the rainfall condition at rice field area, overlay the rainfall condition with the cropping calendar information, recommend planting management, and balance the needs and fulfillment of rice. The results of the analysis showed that the area of rice, maize, and soybean plants in paddy fields that had the potential to experience drought were 1,087,937 hectares, 1,996,156 hectares, and 786,849 hectares. The potential area of maize and soybean to be converted into rice plants are 1,448,110 hectares, and 102,868 hectares. The potential for rice production during the period July 2020 to January 2021 is estimated at around 25.55 million tons of rice. It is predicted that the conversion of maize and soybeans to become rice plants through fulfilling their water needs will result in an increase in rice production to 33.10 million tons, and produce a supplement in the balance of rice availability to their needs during the July-December 2020 period.