East Nusa Tenggara on the verge of famine

KUPANG: More than 90,000 people in seven regencies in East Nusa Tenggara face the threat of famine because of poor harvests, the province’s food security and supervisory agency says.

The agency said the affected regencies were Nagekeo, Kupang, East Sumba, North Timor Tengah, Belu, East Flores and Lembata.

Citing data from June, agency head Nikolaus Nuhan said 199 districts in the seven regencies were vulnerable to food insecurity.

“Food stocks are only sufficient for 3-6 months,” he said over the weekend.

The provincial administration, Nikolaus added, would allocate between Rp 25 million (US$2,925) and Rp 60 million from state budgets and another Rp 50 million from the provincial budget to 21 regencies and municipalities to tackle the issue.