Extreme Weather May Result in Food Shortage

VIVAnews – Indonesia must anticipate food shortage following extreme climate and weather changes early this year. A number of rice-producing areas in West Java, Central Java and Sumatra have been hit by floods, causing crop failure over thousands of hectares of paddy fields. 

Meanwhile, in several islands such as in Nusa Tenggara and Moluccas, the traffic between islands is also being hampered by high waves and storms.  Fishermen are unable to go out to sea because of extreme weather. 

“The condition may result in food scarcity due to cut supply chains,” said Yudi Widiana Adia, a member of Commission V of the House of Representatives in a statement to VIVAnews, today, Feb 1. 

Moreover, Yudi called for the government to anticipate the coming food shortage. Based on his team’s observation, the prices of daily staples have slowly increased, especially in the cities. 

“According to the prediction made by the Meteorological, Climatology & Geophysics Agency (BMKG), the extreme weather will continue until the end of February 2012,” said Yudi. 

Earlier, Head of BMKG, Sri Woro Buadiati Harijono, stated that extreme weather in Indonesia is caused by a number of contributing factors. The main causes are: the presence of cloud vertical expansion, increasing precipitation, and rising possibilities of strong winds.