Irrigation in Southern and Eastern Asia in figures

Abstract

Indonesia is a tTopical archipelago composed of 1 504 islands. It extends over aboLlt 1.9 million k1112 and the coastline exceeds 54 000 km, which is more than the circumference of the globe making it the coumry with the second coastline after Canada. The major islands are SumatLl, Java, Nusa Tenggara (including Bali), Kalimantan, Sulawesi, Maluku, and Papua (previously Irian Jaya). ~lost of the major islands have a mOllmain range running their entire length. The mOllnrains are of volcanic origin and some are still active. The elevations on the islands range from 0 to 5 030 I1l above sea level. Since 2005 the country has been divided administratively into 33 provinces. In 200(), the provinces were subdivided into 349 regencies and 91 cities (kota), 5 656 subdistricts and 71 563 villages (desa! Jakarta is the capital city of the COllntry, located 011 the island ofJava. The total cultivated area in 2009 was 42.6 million ha, which is around 22 percent of the total area of the country. Arable land was an estimated 23.6 million ha and the area under permanent crops 19.0 million ha (Table 1). Eum holdings in Indonesia are small: 34 percent are less than 0.25 ha and a further 25 percent are between 0.25 and 0.50 ha. Climate Indonesia is located in a wet tropical region with an average annual rainfall of about 2 700 mm, varying from 1 300 mm in East Nusa Tenggara to 4 300 mm in parts of Papua (Table 2) (Bappenas, 2004). There are two seaS011S: the dry and the wet. The dry season is influenced by the Australia conrinemai air masses and lasts from March to August. The wet season is influenced by the Asia Continental and Pacific air masses passing over the oceans and lasts from September to March. The heaviest rainfall is usually from November to February. Temperatures range from 21°C to 33 DC, but at higher altitudes the climate is Humidity is beC\veen 60 and 80 percent.