Food aid to pour into Indonesia

Food aid to pour into Indonesia

JAKARTA (JP): Japan plans to send more than 500,000 metric
tons of rice to Indonesia to ease escalating food shortages due
to the severe drought, Japan's agriculture minister said
yesterday.

Indonesia had made a formal request to Japan for more than
500,000 tons of rice, Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries
Minister Yoshinobu Shimamura said as quoted by Antara.

Japan would provide Indonesia with 500,000 metric tons as a
loan and tens of thousands of extra metric tons in the form of
grant-in-aid or low-interest yen credits, Shimamura said.

Japan plans to lend its stockpiles of the staple food at
international prices, ministry officials said, adding that
Indonesia would repay the loan over 30 years in either rice or
cash.

The minister said Tokyo hoped to send the first shipment of
rice in late May or early June.

Meanwhile, it was reported yesterday that the United Nations'
Rome-based World Food Program (WFP) has launched a US$88-million
appeal for emergency aid to help meet shortages in Indonesia.

Abraham de Kock of WFP-Jakarta said in a media statement
issued Thursday that the U.N. agency was seeking to provide
225,000 tons of rice and blended foods to feed at least 4.6
million of the most vulnerable Indonesian people, including
pregnant women, nursing mothers, children under five and families
who only have enough food for one meal a day.

"The appeal of WFP, which will also run some food-for-work
programs, will complement national efforts to help the country
survive the dry season beginning in May and will last until next
spring's expected harvest," De Kock was quoted by Antara as
saying.

Indonesia's crops have suffered from drought caused by the
strongest El Nio phenomenon in 50 years while Asia's economic
crisis has affected the country's ability to import rice, the
nation's staple food.

According to findings from a joint mission to Indonesia
conducted by WFP and the United Nations' Food and Agriculture
Organization last month, 7.5 million people are likely to
experience what it called "acute household food insecurity over
the next year."

The findings also show that Indonesia's needs for imported
foods would reach a total of 3.5 million tons during the current
fiscal year.

In Rome, WFP Executive Director Catherine Bertini said in a
statement: "We ask the international community to act now to
prevent the present food shortage from developing into a major
food crisis."

"The people of Indonesia need our help to recover from these
recent calamities," she added.

In a related development, Antara reported that a number of
Australian non-governmental organizations (NGOs) have expressed a
readiness to help alleviate the food shortages in Maluku and East
Nusatenggara.

The NGOs will extend US$16 million in cash to help meet the
demand for food and medicine in the two provinces, said their
spokesman James Fox on Thursday.

Fox said the organizations were still collecting data on the
two provinces' needs and would seek the approval of the
Indonesian government before giving the assistance.

Southeast Maluku regent H. Rahayan has said 98,000 people in
eight subdistricts in the province are facing food shortages.
(prb/swe)