Drought leads to food shortages
in S. Timor Tengah: Regent
Djemi Amnifu, The Jakarta Post, Kupang, East Nusa Tenggara | Archipelago | Thu, June 18 2015, 5:46 PM

Timor Tengah Selatan regent Paul Mella said harvest failures caused by a long dry spell in the regency has led to food shortages currently affecting 12,204 people from 2,938 households in the region.

As it was difficult to get rice, he said, many local communities in Timor Tengah Selatan were turning to putak, a Palmyra palm tree-based dish that was traditionally consumed by people in the regency.

“They eat putak not because of starvation, but because it is one of the local alternative foods. People still have other food sources they can consume, despite the shortage,” said Paul, on Thursday.

The regent said putak was one of the foods that have been widely consumed by local communities in Timor Tengah Selatan for a long time. They used to turn to local dishes, including putak, when they suffered harvest failures.

Yohanes Loase, a resident of Kualin district, said he and other villagers were forced to consume putak, which is made from flour extracted from the Palmyra palm, locally known as the gewang tree, as they had run out of food stocks.

“Every day, my wife and I and our children eat putak. If they don’t want to eat it, they will starve and die. So, we have to eat it, no matter if we like it or not,” said Yohanes.

He said drought had affected Kualin since January. With very low rainfall, people could not cultivate anything they could sell to meet their household needs.

As reported earlier, people in four villages, namely Kiufatu, Oni, Toineke and Tuafanu, in the Kualin district and Oebelo village in the South Amanuban district received assistance from the government on Wednesday.

In field visits to Kualin, Social Affairs Minister Khofifah Indar Parawansa, who was accompanied by East Nusa Tenggara governor Frans Lebu Raya, handed over 24 tons of rice to 2,938 households in the five villages affected by food shortages. (ebf)(++++)
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