Farmers from tsunami-devastated Banda Aceh in Sumatra are being aided by NSW DPI scientists as they work out how to resume crop production in soils that are now highly saline.

Last December’s tsunami brought sea water inland as far as seven kilometres when it swept across 2000 kilometres of Aceh’s heavily populated and intensively farmed coastline.

“Some low-lying rice growing country is now filled with estuarine water and might be best turned over to aquaculture,” said NSW DPI research team leader, Dr Peter Slavich.

“It may never be capable of growing rice again,” he said.

Other areas are experiencing cracked and acid sulphate soils, as well as high salinity levels.

Another problem is blocked irrigation and draining systems: “If we can get them operating, those areas should be able to recover quickly.”

Dr Slavich’s team has just returned from Aceh, where their immediate task was to restore the region’s soil testing capacity.

During the visit they handed to local scientists a piece of equipment known as an EM38, which measures electrical conductivity of soil using electro-magnetic induction.

The new project was developed after visits to Aceh by the Australian Council for Inter-national Agricultural Research (ACIAR).

The organisation has now contracted NSW DPI to work with Indonesian scientists and local farmers in three districts in eastern Aceh (Piede, Bireuen and Aceh Utara).

The principal crops in the region are lowland paddy rice, soybeans, peanuts and other legumes, maize, cassava and vegetables.

“We are focusing on the areas where the most rapid progress can be made – where more people survived and where there is more chance of returning land to cropping,” Dr Slavich said.

“At this stage we are talking about basic food security – about helping locals to grow enough food to feed themselves.”

The head of the agricultural soils laboratory in Banda Aceh died in the tsunami and the team’s first task is to train other people to take over running of the lab and do basic soil and plant analysis.

“At first glance, the country outside build up areas looks relatively normal”, said Dr Slavich.

“Palm trees are still standing and some rice has been replanted.

“But when you look more closely, you can see salty soil, fluffy surfaces that are the result of salt accumulation and drains filled with sediment.”

In the Bireuen district, the tsunami damaged an estimated 16,700 hectares of irrigated rice. Inspections and preliminary soil salinity measurements suggest widespread salt damage, with most of the affected area now too saline for any crops.

“We expect that crops will be fairly patchy.

“By measuring salinity levels in the soil, we will be able to tell quickly whether these are the result of saline soils or whether there are other nutritional problems.”

The project team will seek to identify the main soil and water constraints to cropping and work with Indonesian scientists and farmers on trial cropping sites to restore production.

Further information: Peter Slavich 02 6626 1352

Media Contact: Joanne Finlay, 02 6391 3171.

This story appears in Agriculture Today.