Harvest failure, economic crisis make people poorer

Harvest failure, economic crisis make people poorer

By Yacob. J. Herin

MAUMERE, East Nusa Tenggara (JP): Harvest failure in the past
year has driven more people in Sika regency, already suffering
due to the economic crisis, to the brink of poverty.

The drought made it difficult for the paddy to grow well.
Grasshoppers made things worse.

Mrs. Sanusi, 56, a farmer in Megepanda, about 25 kilometers
west of Maumere, said that grasshoppers attacked their golden
rice fields and destroyed the paddy. "We could not kill them with
pesticide because it is not available at the shop," she said.

She said the farmers were forced to burn the rice fields in
order to kill the grasshoppers. "That's why we have a lack of
rice this year."

She considered herself lucky as last year she could buy some
rice from the government for Rp 1,000 per kilogram, which she is
saving for this year's Idul Fitri celebration.

These days Mrs. Sanusi and her family eat corn rice and
cassava with some vegetables. "We give a little corn rice to the
children, and tell them to drink a lot until they are full.

Mrs. Yusuf, 49, another farmer, said that her two children,
both girls, were forced to leave school. The elder was in junior
high school, the other one in elementary school. "Now, they help
me working in the field. What else can they do?"

According to the Sika regent, Paulus Moa, the population of
the regency is about 252,000. Less than 50,000 families live
below the poverty line. Those people last year received aid from
the government in the form of cheap rice, which was available at
Rp 1,000 per kilogram.

Mrs. Stefanus, 32, a resident of Waioti, is a low-ranking
civil servant and has three children. Her husband was a driver,
but has been jobless since the car broke down eight months ago.
Her salary is not enough to feed five people for a month, and she
now depends on her parents' help.

"If we run out of rice, once every two weeks we have to go our
parents, and they give us corn rice. They also give us
vegetables, cassava and coconuts, which can be made into oil.
Cooking oil costs Rp 5,000 per bottle, while before the crisis it
was only Rp 1,500," she said.

Mrs. Stefanus, who is a Christian, said that there were no new
clothes for last Christmas, and the family had turned down a
number of invitations to Christmas and New Year parties.

"If we had accepted the invitations, we would have had to
spend money, because if we go to a party we have to take
presents," she said.

Mrs. Edy, 49, said that she and her family only went to
church on Christmas Eve.

"We stayed at home during the day and I told my children not
to shake hands with the neighbors because I felt ashamed they
were not wearing new clothes," said the mother of three children.

Only one of the children can still go to elementary school.
The other two have dropped out from the same school because of
the crisis.

Data collected by the Caritas Foundation showed that a total
of 40,100 elementary students received scholarships totaling Rp
1,624,123,000 in the 1997/1998 academic year. In the 1998/1999
academic year, the number of students who received the
scholarships increased by 100, while the fund increased by more
than Rp 31 million.

However, Agustinus Fernandes, deputy director of the
foundation, alleged that not all of the funds go to the needy
students.

Mrs. Edy, who lives in Beru village, sells water spinach and
cassava leaves in front of her house. Her husband sells grilled
fish in an Inpres market (a market built under presidential
instruction, usually for low-income people) in the town of
Maumere.

"Because all prices have been increasing, we also have
increased the prices of our goods, but still we are not able to
buy any rice," she complained.

The last time they ate rice was when the government sold cheap
rice at Rp 1,000 per kilogram. "But that was a long time ago,"
she said.

Johanes, 57, of Wairoteng village, said the same thing. His
family ate rice only when the government sold it at a special
price.

"We eat only twice a day, lunch and dinner," he said.

A construction worker, Johanes earns about Rp 5,000 a day. He
has two children, who are in, respectively, a junior high school
and an elementary school.

"For Christmas, my children bought used clothes in the
market," he said.

In this time of crisis many vendors sell used clothes at the
market in Maumere. They said that the clothes, which cost between
Rp 7,500 and Rp 10,000 each, are from Singapore.