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)