Yemris Fointuna, Kupang – At least 72 villages in East Sumba regency in East Nusa Tenggara (NTT) are facing a severe food crisis that has prompted the central government to send bags of rice.

Existing food supplies are sufficient for just another two weeks based on the current rate of consumption.

Deputy NTT Governor Esthon Foenay said in Kupang on Saturday that he had urged East Sumba Regent Gidion Mbilijora to distribute about 100 tons of rice provided by the central government to the people affected by the food crisis in his area.

"The food crisis is so severe that it is not wrong to use the existing food supplies to feed [the people]," Esthon said.

The vice governor explained that a similar situation was recorded in North Timor Tengah regency, but monitoring by an evaluation team on the food scarcity showed that the food supplies there were still adequate to meet demand.

"It is different from East Sumba, where local people depend entirely on rice. After facing harvest failures, people in North Timor Tengah switched to eating tubers, locally called iwi, that they took from the forests," he said.

East Sumba Regent Gidion said that the number of villages affected by the food crisis had reached 72 out of the 262 villages in his regency. He said that the food crisis was sparked by harvest failures caused by extreme climate change.

According to reports from the NTT Food Security Agency, 46,309 people are affected by the food crisis in the 72 villages in six districts.

NTT Disaster Handling Community Group director Yulius Nakmofa said that the food crisis would threaten parts of NTT due to poor policy making, which had failed to prepare for the impact of climate change.

"If the traditional agriculture scheme is maintained, it is feared many people will die in vain," Yulius said.

According to him, among the various steps required to prevent a repeat of the situation include the government effectively disseminating information on projected rainfall, to ensure farmers reschedule planting accordingly.