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East Nusa Tenggara markets own rice called Flobamora
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East Nusa Tenggara province launches their own brand of rice on Sept. 21, produced by the province's farmers. The rice is called Flobamora and hoped to reduce rice dependence from outside the province. (JP/Markus Makur)
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ast Nusa Tenggara (NTT) province, which has been highly dependent on imported rice from other provinces, now produces their own rice called Flobamora.
Flobamora is NTT’s nickname and acronym for five of 21 regencies in the province: Flores, Lembata, Sumba, Timor, and Alor.
NTT Governor Frans Lebu Raya launched the Flobamora rice on Wednesday in East Manggarai regency on Flores Island. The province’s Agriculture, Plantation and Husbandry Agency has named the rice Flobamora to reflect unity of all farmers in the province.
“We have been buying rice from outside the province. Rice from outside the province is easily found in local markets or supermarkets here. So with the name Flobamora we can have our own rice and even sell the brand outside NTT,” he said.
Flobamora rice, he said, was a premium rice because it could be cooked without washing. The rice have been milled twice using rice mills given by the administration.
Manggarai Timur Regent Yoseph Tote said his regency was among the rice producing regencies besides Manggarai and West Manggarai.
NTT is known as an arid province and rice had not been the people’s original staple food, which was corn. But farmers in the province are less and less growing corn. Some residents have tried to cultivate sorghum because they argued sorghum grows better than rice on some fields in the province. (evi)
