Lack of funds prevents Irianese transmigrants from planting rice
Lack of funds prevents Irianese transmigrants from planting rice
R.K. Nugroho, The Jakarta Post, Jayapura
Transmigrants, the provincial backbone for rice production in
the easternmost province of Irian Jaya, admit to having stopped
planting rice due to financial problems.
A transmigrant said on Wednesday that he and most of his
fellow transmigrant families in the resettlement areas of East
and West Koya, in Jayapura regency, had stopped planting rice
three years ago.
"We found it difficult to afford the cost of rice seeds after
the government stopped making loans," Supater, a 59-year-old
transmigrant from Java, told The Jakarta Post on the sidelines of
the World Food Day commemoration held at the Koya resettlement
site, some 40 kilometers from Jayapura.
World Food Day fell on Oct. 16.
"In the past each family head got Rp 1,500,000 in loan to buy
rice seeds before the planting season."
The ceremony was led by Andi Baso, deputy governor for
administrative affairs.
Supater said he did not have any idea why the government had
stopped the loans. "Now many of us cannot plant rice in our
fields."
As many as 500 transmigrant families have been living in Koya
since 1982. Some 35 families are local resettlers (Irian Jaya
families), while the rest are transmigrants from Java.
On Tuesday head of the provincial logistics depot (Dolog)
Sutono said that Irian Jaya imported 130,000 tons of rice
annually from Surabaya, East Java, and Makassar, South Sulawesi,
to meet local demand.
"The arable land in the province has not yet been properly
exploited," he said. "However, the province still produces rice.
This year the provincial administration has bought 5,600 tons of
rice from Merauke."
Without revealing the actual amount of rice needed by the
province annually, Sutono said that Merauke's total rice
production was still too small to meet the province's demand for
rice.
Sutono said, however, that the fertility of the province
should be fully exploited to meet local demands for food.
"People could diversify their agricultural crops so as not to
fully depend on rice," he said. "They could also plant corn, sago
palm or various types of tuber."
Indigenous Irianese eat tubers as their staple food. Many of
them started to eat rice after transmigration programs were
introduced in the 1980s.
According to Sutono, the provincial administration would not
change the people's habit of planting and eating tubers. "The
main problem here is human resources: We need people capable of
exploiting the natural opportunities."
In anticipation of the increasing demand for rice for the
coming Christmas and year-end celebrations Dolog had made 36,000
tons of rice available. "That amount will be sufficient until
February next year."