The Government of Indonesia has concentrated on increasing the production of rice, the preferred staple food of the great majority of Indonesians. Poor farmers in East Java faced an inadequate water supply and lack of facilities to distribute it efficiently. To help improve the productivity and incomes of 175,000 farm households, the project worked to promote rehabilitation and upgrading of irrigation schemes and construction of irrigation networks. To expand farmers’ use of groundwater, the project also supported development of about 240 tubewells and distribution facilities, as well as a survey exploring other groundwater resources.

Source: IFAD