Poor eating cassava in Boyolali, W. Lombok
Poor eating cassava in Boyolali, W. Lombok
JAKARTA (JP): Thousands of people in Boyolali, Central Java,
and West Lombok, West Nusa Tenggara, have started eating dried
cassava following failed harvests in the two regions.
Poor people living around the Kedungombo Dam in Boyolali
regency are consuming processed cassava, known locally as tiwul,
because they are no longer able to purchase rice because their
own harvests have been destroyed.
Yasdi and Sudin, residents of Kedungmulyo district confirmed
that almost all people living around the big dam had no
alternative food to the tiwul because they could not afford to
buy rice.
"Rice of low-quality costs Rp 3,500 (32 U.S. cents) per
kilogram," Yasdi said, adding that the failed harvests were
caused by attacks by rats.
Sudin expressed her fears about the farmers' fate since their
food stocks had declined.
She said efforts by farmers to change to other crops had also
failed because of a lack of rain.
Diyo, 30, Wagiyem, 27, and Sugiyanto, 37, all residents of
Wuluhan subdistrict said they had consumed cassava for breakfast,
cassava porridge for lunch and tiwul for dinner.
They said they were also facing difficulties earning money to
pay their children's tuition fees, Antara reported on Thursday.
Despite receiving rice aid from the local administration,
thousands of people in Sekotong subdistrict in West Lombok have
also begun eating cassava following the prolonged drought in the
province.
The local administration recently provided two kilograms of
rice for every family, plus used clothes and instant noodles for
poor people in the subdistrict.
Syahri Suwandi, who handed over the aid relief, promised that
the local government in the near future would also supply cheap
rice to the subdistrict in order to help alleviate the suffering.
He said poor people would be given 10 kilograms of rice every
month.
Many children have become malnourished because of the food
shortage.
At least 188,000 people in the province were living in abject
poverty, Antara said.
More than 500 tons of rice could not be transported to
drought-hit Semeulue Island in Aceh province because of bad
weather on the island.
As of Tuesday the rice could not be transported to the island
after the passenger ship KMP Lily plying the Meulaboh-Senabang
route was stranded at another island by the bad weather.
Antara reported recently that at least 62,000 people living on
the island were facing a food crisis after harvest failures over
the last two years.
Yunita Warti, spokeswoman for the state-owned land and sea
transportation company PT ASDP in the West Aceh town of Meulaboh,
said her office had asked the company's branch office in Medan,
North Sumatra, to send another ship to transport the rice to the
island. (rms)