JAKARTA — Analysts and Industry Players have warned the public to watch out the possibility of worst impact of El Nino phenomenon which is predicted to hit Indonesia and surrounding regions in August 2023.
The main impacts of the El Nino will be long drought and forest and land fires (Karhutla), which were seen in Indonesia in 2015 and 2019. As a result, a long drought is predicted to affect a number of regions in Indonesia.
Such condition will cause many people in many regions across Indonesia to face difficulty in getting clean water. It will also affect the production of agriculture and plantations, including the oil palm plantation which needs water for cultivation.
Oil palm smallholders are very worried as the El Nino will threaten the production of their fresh fruit bunches in their respective plantations.
A number of researches have indicated that El Nino will lead to drought in oil palm trees as rainfalls will be less than 1250 mm per year.
Besides, water deficit was more than 200 mm per year, and dry month with rainfall of less than 60 mm per month or per three months.
The drought will certainly bring negative impacts to oil palm plantations. It will cause, among others, the stunted growth of oil palm trees, their flowers, fruits and productivity. It is also potential to reduce the extraction rate of palm fruits.
The El Nino is reported to cause the emergence of male flowers or decrease the sex ratio of flowers which will then result in lower production of fruits.
The condition is also potential to cause the abortion of flowers. The growing female flowers could undergo an abortion before fully blooming. Such abortion is very likely to occur in oil palm trees at the ages of between 3 – 5 years. (*)
Source: sawitku.id