Government admits food shortage in West Timor

Yemris Fointuna and Muninggar Sri Saraswati, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The government promised on Tuesday to provide free rice and labor-intensive jobs for people in several drought-stricken East Nusa Tenggara regencies.

Provincial head of the state commodity regulating body (Bulog) Widjanarko Puspoyo said the institution had some 27,000 tons of rice on hand in the province and had sent 2,000 tons more from East Java to the drought-affected province. The agency said it could also ship additional rice from Sulawesi if needed.

"We'll provide rice for them, as much as they need, because we a have sufficient supply. We'll give the rice for free because they cannot afford to buy it," Widjanarko said.

He was speaking after a meeting with Vice President Jusuf Kalla and Minister of Agriculture Anton Apriyantono on the government's relief measures in East Nusa Tenggara.

Bulog, Widjanarko said, normally sends some 10,000 tons of rice per month to the province.

Drought in southern and eastern parts of the archipelago have put people in 12 regencies at risk of water and food shortages. The regencies affected are Rote Ndao on Rote Island, North Central Timor, South Central Timor, Lembata, Belu, Kupang on Timor Island, Sikka, Ngada and East Flores on Flores Island, East Sumba and West Sumba on Sumba Island and Alor Island.

Widjanarko said the central government obtained the report about a threat of famine in the province this week, but had been aware of the crop failure there since March 12.

"On the national level, there is a national food security council, while in the regions there are provincial food security councils. They carry out rice monitoring. If everybody does their job, we can detect such crop failures early," he explained.

Labor-intensive projects are needed because many farmers are unable to support their families due to the harvest failure, Widjanarko said.

"They can't afford to buy food due to the crop failure. Therefore, we'll give them jobs," Widjanarko said, adding that the projects would be focused on construction of irrigation as it would also help locals cope with their routine problems.

Asked about the government's long-term plan for the province that annually has to cope with drought, Anton said Jakarta was mulling over attempts to develop a large livestock industry in the province.

Separately, the provincial administration predicted that more than 30,000 hectares of farm land could have suffered total crop failure, with financial losses estimated at Rp 191 billion (US$20.5 million).

East Nusa Tenggara deputy governor Frans Lebu Raya told the press in Kupang that his office had sent teams to the drought- affected regencies to check on how serious the threat of famine was.

The province has prepared some 50 tons of rice to be distributed to the regencies.

Most residents in East Nusa Tenggara have been eating corn, nuts, cassava or anything available due to the depleted rice supply. They are also hampered by water shortages.