Rice 'out of reach' for Pauan residents in remote villages
Rice 'out of reach' for Pauan residents in remote villages
Nethy Dharma Somba, The Jakarta Post, Jayapura
Don't ask people in Papua's remote areas how rice tastes, because
for them, rice is a luxury: both expensive and rare.
"We maybe only eat rice once a month, that is, if someone
gives it to us, because we can't afford to buy it," said Steven
Enembe, 23, from Muhimbut village, some 750 km southwest of
Papua's capital of Jayapura.
Their staple food are tubers, locally known as mbi, consisting
of hipere (sweet potato) and batatas (yam). They are grown in the
gardens alongside their houses, or in gardens many kilometers
from their village.
Rice is rare in Mulia town because local people do not plant
this crop, and if it is transported from Jayapura, its price is
exorbitant due to high transportation costs.
A kilogram of rice here costs Rp 25,000 (US$2.50), whereas in
Jayapura it costs Rp 4,500 per kilogram. Air freight from Sentani
Airport in Jayapura to Mulia costs Rp 17,000 per kilogram.
Every day, Steven is accompanied by his wife, Endira Tabuni,
21, who is seven months pregnant, and his son, Oni, 3, to till
their garden located 15 km from their home, on the other side of
a hill.
Every morning, Endira prepares breakfast of mbi and plain
water. They then head out to the garden, with Steven leading the
way, followed by his wife and son. Endira brings a noken (bag
made of woven tree bark) filled with cooked mbi for lunch.
The Steven family spends the whole day at the garden, weeding
or gathering mbi and vegetables to bring home to their honai
(traditional house of the Central Highland tribe) before dusk.
Once every week or so, Endira and Steven go to the market to
sell their produce.
They buy sugar, salt and soap from money derived from selling
hipere and batatas. "We usually get Rp 20,000 every time we go to
the market," said Steven.
That's the reason why they rarely eat rice; it is simply out
of their reach. "A kilogram of rice costs Rp 25,000, while they
can only earn Rp 20,000 from selling crop. How can they buy
rice?" Mulia district chief Rachel Elabi told The Jakarta Post.
Rachel added that even when Steven and his family did eat
rice, they got it from the rice-for-the-poor scheme, in which
each family is entitled to 10 liters of rice a month. But if
flights are hampered due to bad weather or unpaid freight fares,
residents are deprived of their monthly rice ration.
Steven's family portrays the typical life of Papuans who live
in remote areas, whose daily routine involves tilling the land in
a traditional way to make ends meet, without pondering their
children's future.
When asked, Steven was at a loss to answer whether his son
would go to school, or be like him and his ancestors who had
never known education.
Puncak Jaya regency, inhabited by 132,000 people, is unique
compared to other regencies in that it has permanent snow
covering the top of the Cartenz Peak at an altitude of 5,040
meters above sea level. Its native residents are of the Dani-Lani
tribe, the biggest tribe living in the several regencies of the
mountainous Central Papua region.
"Government intervention is needed to empower people in remote
areas in every aspect of life, such as agricultural assistance so
as to produce better yielding crops that they can sell to improve
their livelihood," said Rachel.
The government has been assisting Puncak Jaya regency since
2000 by opening rice plantations and involving local residents.
In 2004, 60 hectares of gardens produced 30 tons of unhusked
rice, part of which was used to meet their daily needs and the
remainder sold to cooperatives.
"We are making efforts to improve the lives of residents
through rice cultivation," project manager of the Dryland Rice
Cultivation program of the Puncak Jaya Agricultural Office, Ferry
Laheba, told the Post.
Ferry said dryland rice would be cultivated in the lowlands,
while residents living in the highlands would cultivate secondary
crops.
Besides dryland rice cultivation, the local administration has
developed transport and infrastructure, healthcare and education,
meaning that Steven and the others will no longer have to worry
about their children's education expenses.
In the education sector, the administration will provide
annual assistance of Rp 6 million to every student from Puncak
Jaya pursuing their studies at higher learning institutes in
Indonesia. Currently, there are 1,007 students from Puncak Jaya
studying at various universities across the country.
A hostel will be built for students from Puncak Jaya in five
cities, including Yogyakarta, Jayapura, Manado, Nabire and
Makassar.
In the infrastructure sector, there is plan to build airports
in Ilaga and Ilu districts this year, as well as roads connecting
Wamena in Jayawijaya regency and Mulia in Puncak Jaya regency.
In the health field, the Papua provincial administration has
built a hospital in Mulia, through the Special Autonomy Fund.