Tanah Bumbu partners Balidbang to develop agriculture

Batulicin, S Kalimantan (ANTARA) - The District Government of Tanah Bumbu, South Kalimantan, collaborated with the Banjarbaru Research and Development Agency (Balitbang) to develop its swampland agriculture.

Tanah Bumbu Regent Abah HM Zairullah Azhar in Batulicin on Sunday said that their cooperation would focus on research and development of agricultural technology innovation, management of swampland farming system based on local wisdom.

"Agricultural development this time by utilizing agriculture technology to increase the knowledge and skills of farmers to work on swampland in Tanah Bumbu which covers more than ten hectares," said the regent.

He said that some time ago, farmers in the district had a problems when planting swamp rice and had caused a decrease in rice production.

The cooperation with Balitbang is expected to solve the problems of swamp rice for farmers in Tanah Bumbu.

According to him, swampland is actually a productive land if farmers could make a maximum use of it. Even in dry season, swampland can be planted with rice, because it still has quite a lot of water content compared to ordinary land.

"However, there are challanges that farmers should face. They have to work extra in term of water management, beause there will be up and down of water in swamps that cause water quality to be low and the level of soil fertility is also low compared to irrigated land or dry land," he said.

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