SE Sulawesi food supply adequate

KENDARI, Southeast Sulawesi: The United Nations Children's Fund (Unicef) has categorized Southeast Sulawesi as one of Indonesia's provinces no longer facing food shortages.

Unicef's announcement was based on its research with the Ministry of Agriculture and the Bogor Institute of Agriculture conducted last March, head of the provincial agriculture office, Manggo Yosman, said yesterday.

The study concluded that Southeast Sulawesi had enough corn, cassava and sweet potatoes, the main staples of the province's population, he said as quoted by Antara.

Manggo also said the local office of the State Logistics Agency (Bulog) had 12,000 metric tons of rice stored in its warehouses.

Unicef has indicated that of the 224 districts it has studied in Indonesia, 70 are classified as facing risks of food shortages -- 18 in Java, 18 in Sumatra, six in Kalimantan, 11 in Bali, 11 in Nusa Tenggara, 12 in East Timor and four in Sulawesi.

The four districts in Sulawesi are Gorontalo and Minahasa in North Sulawesi, Majene in South Sulawesi and Toli-Toli in Central Sulawesi.