Hunger Season in the East
A serious drought has swept several regions in the Province of East Nusa Tenggara since last February. Food vulnerability is spreading to 12 regencies, with the worst conditions found in East Sumba and South-Central Timor. Residents of several villages have begun to dig up poisonous ubi, a sweet potato-like tuber, as an alternative food source and for their animals. Tempo English Edition reports.
April 21, 2010
FOR the past few months, Mata Yiwa has been terribly busy. The head of Palakahembi village is diligently making a list of his people’s plantations. He is checking who still has food reserves in their lumbung; who is beginning to sell cattle to buy food. The 46-year-old man knows that in several villages in East Sumba regency people are beginning to dig for iwi, poisonous jungle tuber (ubi), to fill their empty stomachs. “Conditions are extrem
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