Kupastuntas.co, Bandar Lampung - The National Disaster Management Agency (BNPB) will provide incentives or assistance to farmers whose paddy fields experienced puso or crop failure during the rainy season a few months ago.

Assistant II for Economics and Development for the Lampung provincial government (Pemprov), Kusnardi said the assistance to be given to the farmers was in the form of cash of IDR 8 million per hectare.

"As of April, there are 2,209 hectares of paddy fields in Lampung that have experienced puso. So later there will be assistance from BNPB of IDR 8 million per hectare. This is in the form of cash that is directly given through the recipient's account number," said Kusnardi, when questioned, Wednesday (3/5/2023).

Kusnardi explained, the assistance that will be given to farmers whose land is experiencing puso is one of the government's support so that farmers are enthusiastic about planting rice, especially in areas prone to flooding.

"This assistance is so that farmers don't give up on planting rice, especially in areas that are prone to flooding. There will be a mechanism for submitting later, and technical guidelines are being made for this. We're just going through districts/cities," he explained.

He explained that there is other assistance for farmers who fail to harvest, namely Rice Farming Business Insurance (AUTP). However, in Lampung itself, the amount is not proportional to the area of rice planting area.

"The number of AUTP is still not comparable. Because when compared to the area of rice planting which is 500 to 600 thousand hectares, we are facilitated by AUTP only 35 thousand hectares. Even that claim is rather slow," he explained.

Meanwhile, Deputy Chairman of Commission II Regional People's Representative Assembly (DPRD) Lampung Province, I Made Bagiasa, said the assistance was one of the efforts to keep the enthusiasm of the farmers to continue the planting process.

"Of course this will be a special enthusiasm for the farmers. Maybe at the beginning the capital was used up and then it hit a puso he didn't plant anymore. Because with this assistance the farmers can do the rice planting process again," said I Made Bagiasa.

He added that the assistance was one of the government's efforts to maintain the availability of food. Especially for Lampung which is a national food barn.

"Lampung is known as the national food barn and the largest grain-producing region. Of course this must be maintained, one of which is by providing incentives to farmers to keep their spirits up," he explained. (*)