NTT asked to earmark 10% of budget for food

Kupang: The East Nusa Tenggara (NTT) Policy Forum urged the provincial administration and legislative council to allocate 10 percent of the regional budget to support the creation of a food-security system.

The forum coordinator, Winston Rondo, said in Kupang on Monday that the fund was badly needed to help intervene in any food-supply problem faced by provincial residents during the long dry season.

Winston explained that one of the main reasons for the food crisis in West Timor was the escalating prices of food stuffs at a time when people’s purchasing power was low.

“Rice is selling at Rp 8,000 (about 88 US cents) per kilogram there at the moment and residents cannot afford that,” he said.

Jehalu Andreas, economic assistant to the NTT regional secretary, said that the government continuously urged local residents to consume local food like corn and tuber and reduce their dependence on rice.

Wahana Lingkungan Hidup NTT director Herry Naif said reports that 1.6 million people were short of food needed an urgent response from an administration that intended to make the NTT province a corn production center. “It is shameful that a province intending to become a corn center is hit by a food crisis,” he said.