DROUGHT IN C JAVA TO PEAK IN AUGUST

Semarang, July 31 (ANTARA) - The drought in Central Java this year is estimated to peak in August, Evi Lutfiati of the local Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysics Agency (BMKG) said here on Friday.

She said that even though the drought would peak in August there was also the possibility that rain would also fall occasionally. But this rain will fall only in certain areas in Central Java with low precipitation.

On the arrival of the El Nino climate phenomenon, Evi Lutfiati said that its impact in Indonesia, including Java, was not significant, because the temperature in the country would remain warmer.

As the temperature remains warm, the chance for rain to fall still exists, she said.

In the meantime, the impact of El Nino in East Java is also predicted not to be significant. The El Nino phenomenon will not extremely affect agricultural productivity in East Java which is expected to drop by only about 0.29 percent, an agricultural official said.

Chief of the East Java Agricultural office's infrastructure and facility affairs unit, Kusdiriyanto, said rainfall between August and September this year was predicted to be normal.

He said the moderate impact of El Nino as predicted by the Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysics Agency (BMKG) would only occur in the western part of Indonesia.

Experts have predicted that El Nino, a climate phenomenon with a significant influence on global weather, ocean conditions and marine fisheries, will begin hitting the Asian region, including Indonesia, later this year and last until 2010.

Indonesia which was severely affected by the climate phenomenon in 1997 has predicted that it will not have an extreme impact on or cause protracted drought this time.

"The temperature in Indonesia will relatively be moderate and there will be no protracted drought. If El Nino does happen we basically are now ready to do what is necessary to mitigate it," Director for Environment Affairs of the National Development Planning Board (Bappenas) Edi Effendi said.