Record food shortages threaten Indonesia: UN<\/p>\n
ROME (Reuters): Indonesia will face a record food deficit this
\nyear as a result of lower harvests and a financial crisis that
\nhas raised the cost of imports, two UN food agencies said on
\nThursday.<\/p>\n
In a joint report, the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO)
\nand the World Food Program (WFP) said large-scale international
\nassistance would be needed to meet a shortfall in rice, the
\ncountry's main staple food.<\/p>\n
\"FAO-WFP urges donor countries to assist Indonesia in managing
\nits drought- and financial crisis-related food problems,\" the
\nreport by the two Rome-based organizations said.<\/p>\n
Steep food price increases and rapidly growing unemployment
\nwere adding large numbers of people to those already living below
\nthe poverty line, the report added.<\/p>\n
\"Approximately 7.5 million poor Indonesians in 15 provinces
\nmay experience acute food shortages during the upcoming dry
\nseason,\" said the report on the world's fourth-most populous
\ncountry whose economy has been shattered.<\/p>\n
The report was based on findings of an 11-member mission from
\nthe two agencies which visited the country from March 9 to April
\n1.<\/p>\n
The two agencies estimated that the rice harvest in 1998 would
\nbe some 47.5 million tons, 3.6 percent below last year's already
\nreduced production.<\/p>\n
The shortfall was due to one of Indonesia's worst droughts
\nthis century.<\/p>\n
The report said the Indonesian government planned to import
\nabout 1.5 million tons of rice between April and September but
\nthis would still leave a deficit of two million tons.<\/p>\n
The shortfall would have to be made up by the international
\ncommunity in order to help the country, which on Thursday agreed
\nwith the International Monetary Fund on a wide-ranging package of
\nmeasures to revive its battered economy.<\/p>\n
The major challenge facing the country was to ensure the food
\nsupply for some 7.5 million poor people since rice and overall
\nfood prices have increased by about 50 percent in the last 12
\nmonths, the report said.<\/p>\n
Uwe Kracht, head of the assessment mission, told a news
\nbriefing production was low, stocks were low and prices were too
\nhigh.<\/p>\n
\"It is the coincidence of the food shortage, which by all
\nmeans is still relatively contained and moderate -- we are not
\ntalking about vast famine -- with the financial situation which
\ndoes not allow the economy to function properly,\" Kracht said.<\/p>\n
Thomas Lecato, a WFP emergency expert, said 440,000 people in
\n31 districts in eight provinces needed immediate food assistance
\nbecause of the drought. This did not include people affected by
\nthe economic crisis and eight million rural families were living
\nin chronic marginal circumstances, he said.<\/p>\n
\"There is a real danger, depending on crop prospects ...that a
\nlarge number of these people could sink below this already
\nmarginal situation where they find themselves,\" Lecato said.<\/p>\n
The report said that as a consequence of the rice production
\nshortfall, Indonesia faced a record import requirement of about
\n3.5 million tons of rice over the next 12 months, ending March
\n31, 1999.<\/p>\n
But it warned that renewed drought would further widen the
\nrice supply gap.<\/p>\n
On a positive note, the report said maize production was
\nexpected to increase by some 900,000 tons and soybean production
\nwas expected to rise by some 200,000 tons.<\/p>\n
Both were partly due to farmers shifting from rice to
\nsecondary crops in response to delayed rains.<\/p>",
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