Drought Forces Fishponds To Harvest Early

Bengkulu (Antara Bali) - Harvest was made early of fishponds  in the Alfatindo housing complex in Sukarami,  Bengkulu province, as the ponds began to be short of water on long drought.

"Tens of fish ponds in this area have been almost dry in the past two months," fish farmer Discoman Andalas said here on Friday.

Drought has hit most parts of the  country causing rice harvest failure in some areas.

Discoman said the fishes have to be harvested and sold before they are ripe for harvest  rather than they are left to dye  and decay in the dry ponds.

Normally, farmers could earn Rp10 million from a pond per harvest but now they stand to lose 50 percent of the earning, he said.

Head of the agriculture office in Bengkulu Arif Gunadi said the drought has hurt not only fish farmers but also rice growers in the region.(IGT)