NTT residents brace for food crisis

NTT residents brace for food crisis

Yemris Fointuna, The Jakarta Post, Kupang

East Nusa Tenggara residents are preparing for a rice shortage,
which they say will not have much of an impact since they are
accustomed to eating other foods, such as corn and arbila (forest
nut).

"When I was child, I ate tamarind kernels when there was a
rice shortage in my neighborhood. A rice shortage is no problem
for me," said Governor Piet A. Tallo on Thursday.

Tallo grew up in Tepas subdistrict, some 110 kilometers east
of Kupang, the capital of East Nusa Tenggara province.

Resident Johanis Silla said he would eat corn, arbila and
tubers if there was a rice shortage.

"Eating tubers and corn is no problem for adults, but local
children have always eaten rice," said Silla, a resident in Baus
subdistrict, South Central Timor regency.

Elis Ndun, a resident in Kupang regency in Timor Island,
claimed that the food crisis would also not affect residents of
nearby Rote and Sabu islands. He said that before rice became the
staple food of residents of the two islands, they drank the juice
of the palm fruit from the lontar tree. A few glasses of the
juice quenches thirst and satisfies hunger, said Elis. "They now
consume rice, but if there is a rice shortage they can easily
fill up on lontar juice," said Elis.

A drought has hit the southern and eastern parts of the
province that has led to food and water shortages.