Bappenas Sets NTB as National Granary despite Drought
28 July 2015 08:00 WIB
TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - The Development Planning Board (Bappenas) said that the severe drought hitting the area of Nusa Tenggara will not change the government’s plan on the region. The government will continue set Nusa Tenggara as the national granary.
“El Nino is disturbing, we have anticipated it,” Andrinof said in his office on Monday, Jul 27. The government have calculated all aspects and the possibility before selecting West Nusa Tenggara (NTB) and East Nusa Tenggara (NTT) as the national granary.
Andrinof added that a short-term and medium-term precaution has been taken by the government. The short-term measure is to manipulate irrigation while the medium-term measure, the government has prepared various supporting infrastructure projects.
Many reservoirs and artificial rivers will be created, Andrinof said, claiming that the national food stocks is not affected by the drought which almost hit several areas in the country.
The Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysics Agency (BMKG) declared that NTB will be the region that experiences the worst and become the hottest region.
“There is no more rain occurring in the area,” BMKG Sub-area Meteorology Information Chief Hary Tirto told Tempo on Sunday, July 26.
ANDI RUSLI