CLIMATE CHANGE BITES
Global warming taking its toll on Indonesian apple crops. By Asad Asnawi in Pasuruan, Indonesia
As dark clouds gather in the morning sky, Indonesian apple farmer Ali Akhbar hurries to finish spraying pesticides onto his trees before yet another afternoon downpour.
It is officially the start of the dry season in East Java province, but nonstop rains have caused havoc for thousands of apple growers like Akhbar again this year — upsetting the flowering season, damaging blossoms and shrinking harvests.
The unseasonable weather has also caused an increase in pests and diseases, forcing some growers to take out loans to keep up with the surging cost of pesticides to ensure years of work do not go to waste.
“It’s so difficult now — the weather is unpredictable,” Akhbar, 49, told the Thomson Reuters Foundation at Andonosari village, which is home to the country’s largest apple orchards.
He used to spray pesticides on his crops once a week, but has to do it twice weekly now, and uses more potent chemicals.
After years of similarly unpredictable weather, disappointing harvests are barely enough to cover production costs, said Akhbar.
Agriculture experts blame climate change for the prolonged rainy season and a rise in temperatures that pose a serious threat to Indonesian apple farming, a sector that once brought stable incomes for thousands of rural families.
Apples are not native to Indonesia. The fruit is said to have been first planted by Dutch colonisers in the 1930s in Pasuruan regency, where Andonosari is located.
Apples used to thrive in the subtropical highland climate of East Java, and are a huge draw for agro-tourism, with people flocking to the orchards to pick the fruit and enjoy the cooler air.
But from its heyday in the early 1990s, when the number of trees reached nearly 10 million, the sector has quickly declined. There were only about 2.4 million trees left by 2016, according to the latest official statistics.
Successful apple-growing needs just the right amount of rain and sunshine, as too much or too little can severely affect fruit quality.
In Pasuruan, where the dry season usually lasts from April to September, farmers plan the flowering and harvesting seasons according to the weather.
They usually start pruning trees in January to prepare for flowering in the following two months, and begin harvesting in April.
Indonesia’s weather agency has forecast higher-than-usual rainfall again for 2022, after last year saw 70-100% more than normal levels.
In April this year, rain continued well into the month and, combined with rising temperatures, severely affected harvests.
Both rainfall and temperatures have been increasing steadily in Pasuruan over the last decade. Annual precipitation was 4,032mm in 2021, up from 2,600mm a decade earlier. The average temperature was 24.4C, up from 21.8C in 2011.
“Some farmers are trying to move to higher ground for cooler temperatures, but climate change is making the weather erratic and the rainfall is increasing. (This weather) is the enemy of the apple crop,” said Otto Endarto, a researcher at the Indonesian Citrus and Subtropical Fruits Research Institute at the Ministry of Agriculture.
Endarto said the rise in temperatures disrupts the way the crops interact with sunlight, water and carbon dioxide to create sugar, leading to diseases such as stem rot and green lice.
The institute has been researching apple varieties that could adapt to the changing local climate, but so far it has not been successful.
Local officials have been holding monthly meetings with growers to discuss how to tackle the issue.
Lilik Widji Asri, head of the Agriculture Department in Pasuruan, said the problem was compounded by deteriorating soil quality, and efforts to help farmers with better seeds have yet to yield results.
“If this continues, we don’t know what will be the future for apple plantations here,” she added.
“Some farmers are trying to move to higher ground for cooler temperatures, but climate change is making the weather erratic and the rainfall is increasing”
OTTO ENDARTO Agriculture ministry researcher