By: Choirul Fuadi)*
CIDISS – Coastal communities, Sungai Undang village, Seruyan Hilir district, Seruyan Regency, wants to try developing the rice varieties resistant to salt water. The step was greeted positively by the Government.
Through the Agency of food security and Agriculture (DKPP) Seruyan, the Government welcomed the positive initiative of the development of rice new varieties that can be grown in salt water.
It is said by the head of DKPP Seruyan, Sugian Noor. According to him, technically, the development of rice varieties resistant to salt water is indeed very possible in the coastal area of Seruyan. However, it is still yet to be done in the near future, due to the unavailability of seed rice salt water.
“We support the development of rice in salt water. But, recently, we haven’t seed rice salt water,” he said.
Meanwhile, the head of Sungai Undang village, Tri Arisusilo said, the majority of the population of the village is fisher, and many of them wishes to develop business in the field of agriculture. Most of the land in the village consists of fishponds with salt water.
In addition, many of the fishermen who want to develop agriculture along with decrease the catches each year, and then the fishermen might not fully rely from the sea.
He also stated, the Village Government already provides approximately 3,000 hectares farmed land that can be used as a location for test development of the rice salt water.