Thousands face food shortages on E. Timor coast

Thousands face food shortages on E. Timor coast

BOBONARO, East Timor (JP): About 5,000 people in four coastal
villages here are enduring food shortages after a dry spell since
January caused massive crop failures, a local official has
confirmed.

Fransisco Martins Dias, the chief of the Atabae subdistrict
some 140 kilometers west of the provincial capital of Dili, said
yesterday that Aidabalete village was the most severely affected.

Villagers said many people were only able to eat once daily in
the past three months after their crops of corn, rice and cassava
failed.

"Now we are surviving by just eating sago. And for that we
have to go deep into the forest to find the sago palm tree," a
housewife told The Jakarta Post at the Loes beach yesterday.

"We used to eat three times a day, but now we have only one
meal a day. If we can stand it, we try to not eat for the whole
day."

Many villagers appeared gaunt and pale.

"There is no food at home. We have substituted sago for rice,
but finding a sago palm tree is not easy," said another villager.
"Worse, it's also hard to catch fish in the sea."

Some people dissolved into tears as they recounted their
hardships.

Francisco said the villages of Atabae, Rairobu and Hatas in
the subdistrict were also facing a scarcity of food.

"But these villages still have food stocks for another three
months, unlike Aidabalete, which has completely run out of food
except sago," he told the Post.

"I cannot do much except write down the names of the villagers
and pass on the list to the Bobonaro regent and social services
office in the regency in order to get food relief from the
government."

He complained the task of registering villagers' names
remained uncompleted because village chiefs had yet to submit
their lists.

Food relief

The subdistrict had also requested food relief from the Baliho
Catholic diocese, Francisco added, although he did not say
whether the aid was forthcoming.

The government provided food relief of basic commodities to
Aidabalete on March 11, he said.

"However, it was only relief for victims who lost their houses
in the 1995 fires. The villagers who are facing food shortages
have yet to obtain any relief."

Francisco said the villagers' only hope was for their
remaining land near the Loes coast to yield a good harvest.

But he said this was only true for villagers with fertile
land, and others would have to wait for what the future brought
them.

There had earlier been reports about food shortage in Atauro
Island in Dili regency, East Timor. (33)