Australia’s Agency for International Development (AusAID) will grant A$5 million to support a food security program in East Nusa Tenggara (NTT), Provincial Planning and Development Agency spokesman Wayan Darmawan said here on Monday.
Wayan said the food security program that will be integrated with the “Anggur Merah” Independent Village program which was declared by Governor Frans Lebu Raya on December 20, 2010.
According to him the local government and the people were from year to year experiencing food insecurity because of harvest failures as a result of climate change.
“We will continue to encourage international agencies to assist the provincial government in its efforts to improve food security in the province,” Wayan said.
He said Governor Frans Lebu Raya has met the AusAID leader and the agency expressed readiness to assist the food security program in the province.
Although the local government in 2012 will start to implement the food security program in all districts in the province, Wayan said AusAID would do a study first.
Wayan said AusAID wanted that the food security program be focused only on the areas with high resistance to post-harvest food security such as Sumba Timur, Timur Tengah Selatan, and Timur Tengah Utara.
“For the NTI government there is no problem, because the most important thing is that the international agency wants to assist the local government to improve the food security program,” Wayan said.
He said that besides AusAIDS, other international agencies such as World Vision Indonesia (WVI), United Nations Children`s Fund (UNICEF), United Nations Development Program (UNDP), Care International, and Australia-Indonesia Partnership for Maternal and Neonatal Health (AIPMNH) had expressed readiness to assist the province’s agricultural sector, especially related to food security.
