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.