Drought leaves
Indonesian province vulnerable to food shortages
Climate change, illegal logging, mining
are aggravating factors, environmentalists say
A prolonged drought in Indonesia's East Nusa
Tenggara has led to arid farmland throughout the province. (Photo by Ryan
Dagur)
Ribka Tenis' family used to eat three square meals a
day. Today, they're lucky to eat once as the seasonal rains have yet to arrive
this year, leading to food shortages throughout Indonesia's East Nusa Tenggara
province.
"We planted corn in January. But the crops died
because the rain stopped," the 45-year-old mother of three told
ucanews.com in her home in Nunbena in South Central Timor district.
The family's only source of income is the US$1.80 a
day her husband earns as a farmhand — when he works. But the family is squeezed
since a side-effect of the drought has led to rising corn prices, the stricken
region’s staple crop.
Tenis' family is one of thousands in rural areas in
the province facing food shortages because of the lack of rainfall, which —
according to environmentalists — is an effect of climate change.
They, along with 12,000 other families in Kualin
and South Amanuban sub-districts who have suffered the worst of the crop
failures, face an uncertain future, aid workers say.
The region's only other crop of note is copra, the
dried meat from a coconut used to extract oil. But few families have it and the
crop is cheap, selling for about 20 cents a kilogram, says Alexander Kmio, a
village head in Toineke of Kualin sub-district. There's little income to be
made from it, he added.
Farmers planted tubers — a typically rugged,
drought-resistant crop — but those too died from lack of water, Kmio told
ucanews.com.
Drought throughout
East Nusa Tenggara is one of 16 provinces in Indonesia
suffering from drought this year, according to the National Disaster Management
Agency. Only two of the province's 22 districts have been insulated from the
current drought.
The agency's spokesman, Sutopo Purwo Nugroho, said the
lack of rain has affected some 111,000 hectares of agricultural land.
And it's not expected to get better. A predicted El
Nino event is forecast to blanket the region through November, bringing wind
and steaming temperatures that will make it difficult for farmers to grow most
crops. The consequences for East Nusa Tenggara could be dire.
"This will have an intense impact on the region,”
Nugroho told ucanews.com. “Even next year's rainy season may be pushed back as
a result.”
Herry Naif, executive director of the province's Forum
for the Environment, says the region has seen a gradual decrease over several
decades in the length of the rainy season, which he attributes to climate
change.
Several decades ago, the rainy season lasted from
October until April. "Currently, the rains come between November and
March. And it's also inconsistent, sometimes falling only for two months,"
he told ucanews.com.
Water remains scarce in the province, leaving families
with a desperate choice: use whatever is available to sustain crops, or to
sustain lives. Once they water the crops, there's little left to drink, Naif
says.
Usually, they choose to use the water for their crops,
he said. “There's a very limited water catchment area [for drinking],” he said.
Naif said deforestation caused by illegal logging and mining also has
exacerbated the issue, with fewer trees left to absorb water.
Saulus Maus, 52, from Oebelo village in South
Amanuban, recalled that until the 1990s water was plentiful and easy to find.
Now he has to walk two kilometers to draw water from a well.
“When we wanted to find water, we would dig a well,
but now it is hard to find. Not all places have water,” he told ucanews.com.
A villager sits outside a typical home
found in Besipae, in Indonesia's East Nusa Tenggara. (Photo by Ryan Dagur)
Missteps
So far, the government has taken some preventive
measures, allocating about US$1.6 million for the constructions of reservoirs
and ponds. It also launched a project to dig 1,000 wellbores to try and capture
whatever water can be found underground.
However, environmental activists say the measures were
meaningless without addressing illegal logging and mining.
"They want to build dams and ponds, and at the
same time clear the forests for mining. Then where is the water coming
from?" asks Melky Nahar, campaign manager for the environmental group NTT
WALHI.
Because of the inconsistent rainfall, it's difficult
for farmers to plan and predict their planting and harvesting seasons, Nahar
says.
For their part, community-based organizations are
working with farmers to develop adaptive farming techniques to try and help
families negotiate their way around unpredictable weather patterns and
prolonged drought.
"It is difficult, however, we have to find the
right way so that people are not constantly starving," Nahar says.
In Besipae, a small village in South Amanuban, a pilot
land-preparation program helped residents avoid crop failure through this
year's drought.
Aid workers helped residents diversify their crops —
adding vegetables like cassava and sorghum — so that they were less reliant on
corn, an environmentally demanding crop, Nahar said.
In the town of Atambua, Franciscan Father Lazarus
Subagi organized dozens of farmers to increase food production during the brief
rainy season.
"We rented unused land. When it rained, we worked
hard to process the land. So until now, our food supply is still
sufficient," he said.
The priest also keeps 70 pigs on Church property to
help raise revenue for villagers.
"Our Church must be able to convince farmers that
God can also be found in a field," he said.
