Record Drought Devastates Indonesia

[USA TODAY, Oct 24, 1997]

JAKARTA, Indonesia - The worst drought in half a century has devastated crop harvests by as much as 40 percent, the government said Friday as a choking smoke haze from wildfires worsened over much of Indonesia.

Officials had earlier warned of rice harvest failures in some drought-ravaged areas. Food shortages and disease triggered by drought have been blamed for the deaths of about 500 people in Irian Jaya province, the remote western half of New Guinea.

Agriculture Minister Syarifuddin Baharsyah said coffee production had dropped by about 40 percent, while tea and palm oil harvests were 30 percent below normal. He said food crops such as peanuts, corn, fruits and vegetables had also been badly affected.

The drought, linked to the El Nino weather phenomenon, has left many parts of Indonesia tinder dry, fueling hundreds of wildfires that have raged since July.

Monsoon rains normally fall by this time of year, but the World Meteorological Organization in Geneva said Friday it could be delayed as much as three months.

The government has estimated the fires, many deliberately lit to clear land, have burned 740,000 acres but some environmentalists maintain as much as 4.2 million acres have been blackened.

Most of the fires are on the islands of Borneo and Sumatra, and have produced a thick smoke haze that threatens the health of more than 20 million people in Indonesia and neighboring countries.

Meteorologists said Friday the haze increased over many areas of Sumatra.

In the city of Padang, 428 miles northwest of Jakarta, it completely blocked out the sun, forcing motorists to switch on their headlights during the day, the official Antara news agency said.

Heavy rain fell in some parts of Borneo, where fires are raging in peat land and jungle, but it did not clear the air, Antara said. It said many residents of Banjarmasin, 428 miles northeast of Jakarta, continued to wear masks to protect against smoke inhalation.