NTT govt prepares for food crisis

NTT govt prepares for food crisis

Yemris Fointuna, The Jakarta Post, Kupang

The East Nusa Tenggara (NTT) administration is preparing
emergency measures to cope with looming food and water shortages
in the province as a result of a drought that is threatening
crops, according to an official.

Frans Salem, head of the provincial social affairs agency,
said a total of Rp 5 billion (about US$537,634) had been
allocated to ease the crisis.

He told The Jakarta Post on Sunday that among the programs
being planned by the administration were the provision of special
seeds that can be grown in critical soil, the distribution of
clean water and the introduction of a campaign to encourage some
residents to switch from farming to fishing to help ensure food
supplies.

The local office of the State Logistics Agency is preparing
stocks of rice for areas experiencing food shortages, as well as
helping to optimize the water supply, Frans said.

The risk of severe food and water shortages has risen with 12
of 18 regencies/cities in the province experiencing drought and
crop failures. The risk of shortages is expected to continue for
several months.

Frans said his office was expecting province-wide food and
water shortages due to a lack of rain that has harmed thousands
of hectares of agricultural land.

The local meteorology and geophysics agency has said the
province can expect little rainfall in the coming weeks as the
wet season comes to an end.

The agency said rainfall in the province this year was below
normal, badly impacting the continuity of food supplies.

The 12 affected regencies/cities are Rote Ndao, North East
Timor, Alor, Sikka, Ngada, East Flores, East Sumba, West Sumba,
South Central Timor, Lembata, Belu and Kupang.

In Rote Ndao, the Post observed thousands of hectares of dry
and cracked rice and cornfields, with very little water flowing
through the irrigation system in the area.

Residents said they were desperate but did not know what they
could do to overcome the situation.

"We're suffering here. Usually we've had two harvests by
March, but this year all the rice and corn we planted last
December has gone dry because there's no rain," a Rote Ndao
resident, Frids Fanggidae, said.

The situation is similar in Kupang and East Sumba regencies,
where hectares of rice fields have been lost to the drought.

There is concern food and water shortages will increase the
number of poor in the area and the number of malnourished
toddlers.

This year's rainy season is expected to end sometime between
April and May, at which time the dry season will begin.

Over the last several years, many parts of the country have
experienced severe droughts during the dry season, a situation
some observers blame on climate change.

In the last three years parts of Sumatra, Java and Nusa
Tenggara have suffered severe droughts, leading to food and water
shortages.