What happened
Bali's Agriculture and Food Security Office (Distan Pangan Bali) has mapped about 328,000 hectares of farmland that could suffer from drought. Office head I Wayan Sunada disclosed the figure in Denpasar on Thursday, October 8, 2026.
The trigger is a late rainy season. BMKG, Indonesia's meteorology, climatology and geophysics agency, expects rain to return to Bali only in November or December 2026. The provincial office is preparing equipment and staff in advance so that rice crops do not fail for lack of water.
Pumps and a rapid response team
The office has readied around 50 water pumps. They will pull water from rivers and push it into irrigation channels wherever fields run short.
It is also relying on a dedicated field unit called Gerdal, short for Gerakan Pengendalian, or control movement. The team is sent out when crops are hit by drought or plant disease. Sunada said the same unit is the province's answer to El Niño, the climate pattern that usually brings drier weather to Indonesia.
The priority is rice that was planted recently or is now in its growth phase. Sunada pointed to paddies sown only a month ago, saying the office wants to move quickly there so farmers do not lose their harvest.
Which areas are exposed
The risk map covers some of the island's most important farming districts. They include Jembrana and Tabanan, which supply the largest rice harvests on Bali.
So far the delayed rains have not forced farmers to change their planting calendar. The first planting season (MT1) has been completed and the second (MT2) is under way. How many crops a field produces in a year depends on the irrigation serving that particular plot.
Water decides the yield
Subak is Bali's traditional irrigation system for rice terraces, run by farming communities. Sunada said fields served by well maintained subak or technical irrigation can be harvested up to three times a year.
Paddies that depend on rainfall alone are a different story. According to the office, they typically yield a single harvest annually. A long dry spell therefore hurts plots without a reliable water supply first.
Why farmers are asked to report
The area under watch is too large for agency staff to inspect on their own. Sunada acknowledged that the office cannot cover the whole island and only learns about drought when someone on the ground raises the alarm.
Farmers are urged to report the first signs of dry fields without delay. They can contact the agriculture office in their regency, field extension workers, or the pekaseh, the elected head of the local subak. Once a report comes in, Sunada said, the team heads straight to the site.
"We cannot reach all of Bali, so without a report we will not know," the agency head said.
What it means for the island
Rice fields matter to Bali beyond food supply. Terraces fed by working subak systems shape the landscape that tourism and much of the island's countryside housing are built around. When water runs short, fields dry out, and the provincial response is designed first of all to save the crop.
The forecast itself is relevant for residents and businesses. BMKG sees the dry period lasting into November or December. Over these weeks it makes sense to watch water sources at any property closely, especially where supply comes from wells or local systems.