Officials warned on food shortage danger

Officials warned on food shortage danger

JAKARTA (JP): The government is on alert for possible food
shortages, especially in remote areas, which could threaten
political stability, State Logistics Agency chief Beddu Amang
said yesterday.

"Adequate supplies of reasonably priced food will improve the
public's feeling of security; something the nation has always
cherished," Beddu said in Sampit, Central Kalimantan while
opening a Rp 1.1 billion (US$448,000) logistical storehouse.

He said the country's food supplies were concentrated in the
agency's storehouses in towns, and that it was often problematic
to transport food to areas that urgently needed it.

Beddu's statement came amid reports of a devastating dry spell
across Indonesia. The rainy season will not begin until November,
according to the meteorology and geophysics agency.

Drought has severely affected food crops in many rice-
producing areas in Java, West Nusa Tenggara, Sumatra, Central
Kalimantan and South Sulawesi.

Water levels in major reservoirs in Java, dubbed Indonesia's
rice bowl because it produces most of the country's rice, are
reported to have dropped sharply.

Beddu said the Sampit logistical storehouse was opened to
speed up the supply of food to remote areas.

The government is planning to build Rp 11.5 billion (US$4.6
million) harvest treatment facilities at the experimental one-
million-hectare peat moss farmland project in Central Kalimantan.

The facilities will be used to store farmers' produce. Similar
facilities are under construction in Central Kalimantan's North
Barito and Kapuas regencies.

The government hopes the facilities will help raise Central
Kalimantan's rice production from 10,000 tons to at least 20,000
tons a year.

Antara reported that in Purwakarta, West Java, over 60
hectares of paddies in Manis and Tegalwaru subdistricts had dried
up because of drought. Hundreds of hectares of paddies in other
parts of the regency are feared to wilt soon.

"We have no hope of our investment yielding anything because
water is getting scarce," a farmer said.

In Cikaobandung village, farmers are so desperate that they
have built a dam across the badly polluted Cinangka river in a
bid to save their paddies.

In hilly southern Purwakarta people have complained of scarce
drinking water.

Drought is also threatening tobacco crops in Jember, East
Java.

The meteorology and geophysics agency in Jakarta has warned
that inadequate rainfall may harm the quality of the famous
Besuki Na Oogst tobacco.

Jember tobacco farmers do not use irrigation systems so they
must rely on rain and groundwater.

In Jakarta, the director general for water resources
development, Soeparmono, said Thursday that severe drought had
long been expected but many farmers had ignored the government's
advice on how to minimize losses due to water shortages.

"Farmers enthusiastically planted paddies in areas expected to
suffer water shortages although the government had advised them
otherwise," he said. (pan)