Papuans suffer food price rises<\/p>\n
R.K. Nugroho, The Jakarta Post, Jayapura<\/p>\n
The prices of basic foods in the Irian Jaya regency of Jayawijaya
\nhave risen sharply due the lack of regular aircraft transporting
\nthe essential commodities to the town's capital city of Wamena
\nfrom Jayapura.<\/p>\n
As an example, rice is being sold at Rp 17,000 per kilogram in
\nWamena and Rp 25,000 per kg in Puncak Jaya regency for the last
\nthree months following last October's crash of a cargo plane that
\nregularly carried basic foodstuffs to the town.<\/p>\n
The normal price of rice is Rp 3,500 per kg on the market. The
\nJayapura Logistics Agency (Dolok) sells its rice to distributors
\nat only Rp 2,700 per kg.<\/p>\n
\"But in Wamena the price of Dolok-type rice reaches up to Rp
\n17,000 per kg,\" Irian Jaya's provincial Dolok head Sotono told
\nThe Jakarta Post.<\/p>\n
He said a similar type of rice was sold at Rp 25,000 per kg in
\nPuncak Jaya, a 150 percent increase from Rp 10,000 per kg in July
\nlast year.<\/p>\n
Sotono said the sharp increase was due to the high cost of
\ntransportation from the provincial capital of Jayapura to Wamena.<\/p>\n
Dolok was charged Rp 7,000 per kg of basic foodstuffs as a
\ntransportation fee from Jayapura to Wamena, a trip which takes at
\nleast 45 minutes by plane, he added.<\/p>\n
From Wamena, the arriving foodstuffs will usually be
\ntransported to Puncak Jaya by small planes to fulfill the demands
\nof people there. The transportation fee was an additional Rp
\n13,000 per kg for foodstuffs.<\/p>\n
The soaring price of rice has forced most Papuans in
\nJayawijaya to go back to their original tradition of eating
\ncassava as their daily staple food.<\/p>\n
The infrequency of flights to remote towns has also caused the
\nprices of other staple foods to rise. Sugar was sold in Puncak
\nJaya at Rp 9,000 per kg up from Rp 4,000 in July, while the price
\nof cooking oil increased from Rp 6,000 per kg to Rp 13,000.<\/p>\n
The Transal cargo aircraft crashed last October in Jayapura's
\nSentani airport due to engine failure, killing one person.<\/p>\n
Since then, the regular cargo flights for basic commodities to
\nWamena have almost come to a standstill.<\/p>\n
The Indonesian Military (TNI) had sent a Hercules aircraft to
\nreplace the ill-fated cargo plane, but the intervention still
\nfailed to reduce the rising prices as it could only fly at least
\nonce a month to Wamena carrying eight kinds of basic foodstuff.<\/p>\n
\"The efforts by TNI are not effective because the use of
\nHercules is very limited and it has to focus on fulfilling the
\nmilitary needs,\" Sotono said.<\/p>\n
He said around 300,000 tons of basic commodities should be
\ntransported to Wamena per month to meet the demands of locals.<\/p>\n
However, the shortage of rice and other basic foods are
\nexpected to be addressed in near future after private expedition
\ncompany PT Manunggal Air hired two Russian cargo planes to
\nreplace its 11-ton load capacity Transal.<\/p>\n
The two Antonov aircraft started to transport 48 tons of basic
\nfoodstuffs from Jayapura to Wamena on Thursday.<\/p>\n
\"The flights will continue until the food crisis is
\naddressed,\" Sotono said.<\/p>\n
Manunggal Air director Muchtar Yahya told the Post that the
\narrival of the new cargo planes was expected to overcome the
\nflight problem confronting the Irian Jaya administration to
\ntransport staple commodities to Wamena.<\/p>\n
\"We hope the current prices of basic foods will decrease by at
\nleast a half,\" he said.<\/p>\n
He said his company rented the two planes for a period of
\nthree months, adding that the rental agreement can be extended if
\nnecessary.<\/p>\n
Yahya said the ill-fated plane was being repaired in Germany.<\/p>", "url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/papuans-suffer-food-price-rises-1447893297", "image": "" }, "sponsor": "Okusi Associates", "sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com" }