JAKARTA -- Indonesia's agriculture minister alleges an international conspiracy is behind rumors of drought in the country, newspapers reported Friday.

"This rumor is the result of an international conspiracy so they will be able to sell their products in Indonesia," the minister, Bungaran Saragih, was quoted as saying in ***The Republika Daily***, which cited the state news agency Antara.

The minister was speaking at the 45th congress of the International Association of Agricultural Students in Bogor, near Jakarta, AFP reported.

Saragih did not specify who was behind the alleged conspiracy.

He said the current dry season would not cause a cut in food production because the scale is small compared with Indonesia's 11 million hectares (27 million acres) of agricultural land.

At the same time, ***The Kompas daily*** reported Friday that according to agricultural officials drought was a reality in several districts.

In west Java Province, almost 30,000 hectares (74,000 acres) of land has been hit by drought, said Yadi Rusyadi Raksadinata, head of the provincial crops and horticultural protection bureau, according to ***Kompas***.

The media ***Indonesia Daily*** reported Friday that 14,000 hectares (35,000 acres) of cropland in central Java was in danger of drying out.

"If efforts aren't quickly made to get water, while the rain the farmers are waiting for doesn't come, we're worried a lot of crops won't be harvested because they'll be dried up first," Sragen Supriyadi, a central Java agriculture department official, was quoted as saying.