Food shortages loom in several far-flung regions

JAKARTA (JP): Food shortages are threatening thousands of West Java and East Kalimantan residents following failed harvests in the two provinces and the soaring price of rice, reports said Tuesday.

About 1,800 people in Subang regency, West Java, have already felt the pinch of rice shortages, but 84,000 more in the neighboring regency of Purwakarta may soon experience the same fate, Antara news agency said.

Memet Hamdan, an official of the Purwakarta regency, said Tuesday the local administration was preparing to build several stockpiles of the staple for emergency use in subdistricts in the regency.

He said Pesawahan and Jatiluhur subdistricts in Purwakarta regency were most vulnerable to food deficiencies.

"We are being extra careful in handling this case because the situation could develop into a famine if the local government fails to handle the problem well."

He explained various measures being undertaken by the local administration to head off food shortages, including preventing brokers from attempting to buy rice from farmers at low prices.

"The regency is declared closed to rice brokers who have intentionally come to villages to disrupt prices in the market," he said as quoted by Antara.

A province reportedly already experiencing food shortages is East Nusa Tenggara, where people are said to be subsisting on tree fruits and tamarind leaves because they can no longer afford to buy rice.

Rice prices have skyrocketed nationwide from about Rp 1,000 per kilogram early this year to between Rp 4,000 and Rp 5,000 per kg due to limited supplies in the market.

In addition to importing rice, the National Logistics Agency (Bulog) is also launching market operations by supplying large quantities of rice to markets in an effort to control prices.

Thailand and China have together sent 14,450 metric tons of rice to East Kalimantan to help ease the shortage of food following a prolonged drought that hit the province since last year.

"With this fresh supply of rice, East Kalimantan now has 29,300 metric tons in stock, enough to meet local demands for three months," Nico Manfe, chief of the provincial office of Bulog, said in the provincial capital of Samarinda Tuesday.

"About 10,000 metric tons of rice from Japan will also arrive here in mid-September." Part of the rice stock has been used in market operations in the province and will continue to be in the future, he said.

In addition to East Nusa Tenggara, other provinces reportedly under the threat of famine include East Timor and Irian Jaya, both of which have suffered under drought and harvest failures in the past two years.

The Japanese government has also sent 25,000 tons of rice to Irian Jaya in an effort to alleviate the impact of the monetary crisis in the country's easternmost province.

Marihot Siahaan, chief of the Irian Jaya provincial industry and trade ministry office, said Monday the rice was of high quality and would be distributed equally to all people in the province.

He said the provincial government would also import rice from Thailand, Vietnam and South Korea to cope with the shortage in the province.

Almost 700 Irianese in a number of regencies died of starvation and drought-induced diseases last year.

Meanwhile, Central Sulawesi Governor H.B. Paliudju has asked locals to restore to their original function the 2,000 hectares of paddy fields which were converted into cacao plantations because the commodity sold at better prices.

He said the province would soon face food shortages unless people stop converting their land into cacao plantations.

The recent UN Food and Agriculture Organization report on Indonesia said heavy rains in cereal producing areas following the drought had boosted irrigation supplies for second-season rice and maize crops.

However, it noted floods caused by excessive rains in July affected East Kalimantan.

The report also said that forecasts of more heavy rains and tidal waves linked with the La Nia weather phenomenon in most parts of the country were worrying and might aggravate the already precarious food supply situation. (rms)