SAPUAN can no longer predict when the rainy season will begin. In the past, the 50-year-old farmer in Desa Bulung Cangkring in the Central Java regency of Kudus knew the rain would come in October. It was then time to begin planting rice.

In the past five years, however, the dry season lasted unusually longer than before. “It’s November already and the rain has yet to start,” said Sapuan. Last January, when the rain should have poured cont