CANDI, a farmer in Karasak, Cilamaya Wetan district, Karawang regency, was gazing across the 1-hectare paddy field he had just harvested. When Tempo saw him last Thursday, the father of two was lackluster although the morning sun was bright. “My paddy was devoured by pests,” he told Nanang Sutisna from Tempo.

The harvest yield of Candi indeed dropped drastically. From the 1 hectare he rents at Rp10 million a year, he could only gather 2 ton