Drought forces E. Java workers to eat cassava

Drought forces E. Java workers to eat cassava

Ainur R. Sophiaan, The Jakarta Post, Surabaya

Already hard hit by the economic crisis that has been assailing
the nation since 1997, more Indonesians are now facing the
prospect of being plunged into severe poverty due to drought.

In East Java, farmers in at least five regencies, Pacitan,
Magetan, Ngawi, Madiun and Bojonegoro, have to consume what is
locally known as tiwul (food processed from cassava according to
traditional methods) instead of rice.

Many subdistricts in these regencies have been enduring a
prolonged drought that has decimated rice crops. Besides, water
volumes in reservoirs and retention areas have also been
declining.

Most of the farmland in East Java relies on rainfall or
water from reservoirs, which during a dry season such as the
present usually dry up.

Information and data gathered by The Jakarta Post shows that
people in 15 villages in the mountainous Kendeng area of Ngawi
are facing shortages of clean water, although the area is located
not far to the north of the Bengawan Solo river.

Villagers there have to go between 200 meters and 300 meters
from their homes to get water. Some of them have also begun to
eat tiwul.

Similarly, in Pacitan, which is located in the southwestern
tip of East Java, at least three of the 12 subdistricts are badly
hit by drought, with local residents being forced to eat dried
cassava.

Those suffering from severe poverty include villagers in
Donorejo subdistrict, which borders on Central Java province.
They are also facing a severe shortage of clean water.

The same applies in Parang subdistrict, Magetan.

Meanwhile, in Ponorogo, more than 100 families in Pulung
subdistrict are now eating tiwul at least twice a day.

Madiun, which stores rice for the western parts of East Java,
is facing a similar disaster.

Suprawoto, head of the East Java information and
communications office, said the five regencies were always badly
hit every dry season.

However, he denied that many people in East Java had been
consuming tiwul because they could not afford to buy rice amid
the ongoing drought.

"In several regions in the west of East Java, tiwul is known
as another staple food. Villagers there consume it not only
during the dry season. Usually, they will sell their rice if the
price is high enough," said Suprawoto, who was born in Magetan.

He said the provincial administration had yet to receive
detailed reports on the drought's impact in East Java.

But to help residents tackle the problem, Suprawoto said the
governments in the five drought-hit regencies were providing
clean water to remote villages using tankers.

"The East Java provincial administration will certainly
provide any assistance needed by the affected regions," he
claimed.

He said his office would continue to monitor the continuing
impact of the drought on local residents. The drought had
devastated 7,000 hectares of farmland across the province by the
end of last month.

However, drought is not the only reason for people to eat
tiwul. In Lampung, for example, declining prices in the local
coffee market are the main cause.

Many coffee growers in Lampung and Bengkulu have long been
consuming tiwul following a dramatic increase in the price of
rice and a fall in coffee prices.