Rote Ndao faces poverty, climate change and apathy

Yemris Fointuna ,  The Jakarta Post ,  Kupang   |  Sun, 03/16/2008 11:54 AM  |  Headlines

Like other villagers, Arnold Henukh has never complained about conditions he and his family face in Koa village on Rote Island with its barren lands, wild climate and apathetic government.
The father of starved 5-year-old Yusuf Henukh did not protest the failure of harvests this year, because it had also hit other villages.
“Excessive rainfall since October last year has lead to the failure of our rice harvest, but also inundated most villages on Rote and Ndao islands, triggering a food crisis. As they have done in the past, villagers have processed Lontar to be made into flour as a raw-material for tutak or sweet porridge,” he said.
Some 300,000 people who inhabit the two islands—which became a new regency in 2003—have survived using traditional agriculture, for centuries. Relying on the natural environment, islanders harvest crops such as unhusked rice and corn, once a year (in normal conditions), but productivity has been lower than usual this year due to the rains, poor soil and lack of irrigation.
“In droughts, like this year, locals have no livestock and have relied on corn and tutak. The worst hit by the food crisis were children and babies. There is too much malnutrition in the regency,” said a village head, who asked for anonymity.
“The local government has allocated a special fund to tackle the food crisis, but the funding rarely reached the intended recipients,” he said.
Until this week, seven children under five have died from starvation in the region. Their deaths were among more than 50 very young children who lost their lives due to nutritional disorders in the province.
These figures have been reduced with help from international aid agencies including World Vision and AUSAID.
The malnutrition affecting the area was a result of the drought-induced crop failures over the past two years, regency secretary Joel
Yakob said.
Local health office head Stef Bria Seran criticized the central government, which he said had neglected the emergency situation not only on Rote Ndao, but in almost all 20 regencies and municipalities of the province.
“Don’t blame us for the malnutrition. Just ask relevant authorities handling food affairs. Is there sufficient food for people, what kinds of food, do they have enough protein, carbohydrates, milk and vitamins, or not?”
Bria denied withholding emergency funds, saying the local government had proposed a Rp 56 billion program recently, but the central government had been apathetic.
The province, he said, was underdeveloped because it lacked resources. The changing climate had worsened conditions for agriculture on the already barren islands,
he said.
Provincial health officer Maxi Taopan said since 2007 the central government had stopped providing aid for the region’s nutrient betterment.
The central government had disbursed Rp 50 billion to handle the emergency situation, but his office had not checked whether the funds reached intended recipients or not, Taopan said.
Taopan promised to check on the Rp 1 billion which was allocated to handle malnutrition in the regency’s 2008 budget.
The key problem the regency faces is how to empower people and improve their farming skills, Yakob said, adding that they should build irrigation systems so agriculture did not depend as much on rainfall.
Farmers could improve their productivity and simultaneously eradicate poverty, he said.
East Nusa Tenggara chief councillor Kristo Blasin
criticized the government which, he said, ignored malnutrition and poverty affecting the majority of the
population.
“Both the ailing governor and regents have turned blind eyes to the issue which has been in the national spotlight,” Blasin said.
“Local officials have yet to check whether programs to repair the human development index are underway or not,” he said.
“A large proportion of the province’s energy and resources have been spent on political interests, rather than for public welfare,” he added.
The provincial government reported some 90,000 malnutrition-related cases presently, among the province’s 498,000 children under 5.

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