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NTT aims to free villages from food crisis
Most villages in East Nusa Tenggara (NTT) are unable to produce enough food to sustain themselves, and could suffer severe food shortages in the event of unfavorable weather conditions, a government study shows
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ost villages in East Nusa Tenggara (NTT) are unable to produce enough food to sustain themselves, and could suffer severe food shortages in the event of unfavorable weather conditions, a government study shows.
The province’s administration declared that 74 out of 2,836 villages and subdistricts in the province’s 20 regencies and mayoralties were self-sufficient in terms of food production.
The study, part of the provincial administration’s Village Food Reliance program, aimed to equip farmers and poor residents in rural areas with the know-how and equipment needed to deal with the potential negative impacts of the El Nino weather phenomenon and climate change on farmland.
Head of the NTT Food Reliance and Counseling Agency, Nico Bala Nuhan, said the food-reliance program was an effort to increase awareness about the importance of food self-sufficiency and to alleviate poverty.
“This year, more than 1.6 million people in NTT are at risk of a severe food shortage due to harvest and crop failures. The food crisis will have an impact on families’ ability to produce their own food.
Consequently, the government has announced the Village Food Reliance program as part of its efforts to solve the problem,” Nuhan said.
He said the general rule of thumb was that self-reliant villages had a percentage of poor people of less than 30 percent.
“The program will be carried out in every village over four years. Currently, only 74 villages have met the requirements, but in the future, the government will continue to conduct studies and evaluations in other villages,” Nuhan said.
A number of smaller programs will be introduced to support the Village Food Reliance program, including a community empowerment program, infrastructure development and a food self-sufficiency system.
“Farmers will be equipped with knowledge, from land preparation to post-harvest, especially in dry farming,” Nuhan said.
The program will be carried out in several stages, and involve six villages in South Central Timor, Manggarai and West Sumba regencies, 16 villages in South Central Timor, Alor, East Flores, Ngada, Ende, Manggarai and West Sumba regencies, and 11 villages in nine regencies, Nuhan said.
A food reliant village, he continued, was one that could locate its own natural resources and develop them to support the needs of the community.
NTT Social Services Office head Emanuel Kara said that more than 1.6 million residents living in 20 regencies and mayoralties were nearing a severe food shortage due to failed harvests and destroyed
crops ruined by the El Nino weather phenomenon.
He said that 481 villages in 201 districts were at risk of food shortages.
Kara said that a survey and field analysis conducted recently by an integrated team found that more than 1.6 million people were threatened by famine due to crop failures.
“The harvest yields were small and will only last a short while,” he said.
A report made available to his team, he said, showed that rice paddies spanning 25,205 hectares, corn fields covering 61,171 hectares, peanut plantations of 5,492 hectares, and tuber plantations of 2,526 hectares were at risk of failing due to extreme weather.
“The affected farmland spans 94,395 hectares, or half the total area of the people’s farmland. The number of families at risk of a food shortage is 333,018, or 1,624,457 people,” Kara said.
Based on data from the National Statistics Agency, the population of NTT is 4.6 million people.
