BNPB Builds Food Warehouse In Papua To Overcome Hunger Due To Upas Dew

Head of the BNPB Disaster Data, Information and Communication Center Abdul Muhari showed the construction of a food warehouse in Sinak District, Puncak Regency,/doc between

JAKARTA - The National Disaster Management Agency (BNPB) has built a food warehouse in Sinak and Agandugume, Puncak Regency, Central Papua, to overcome the threat of hunger for people triggered by the phenomenon of the upas dew climate. Head of the BNPB Disaster Data, Information and Communication Center Abdul Muhari said the total budget used to build the two food reserves worth more than Rp82 billion using BNPB Ready-to-Use Funds (DSP). He said the food warehouse in Sinak District had been completed and already contained food reserves which are currently ready to be distributed to the community assisted by TNI personnel from the XVII/Cenderawasih Military Regional Command. However, Abdul said that warehouses in Agandugume District are still in the process of being developed because of the difficulty of access and there was a disturbance in horizontal conflicts from certain groups so that TNI troops had to go to the field to carry out security. "The TNI has successfully resolved the misuse and while the warehouse is still in the construction process, the food from Sinak's warehouse is transported to be distributed to the community in Agandugume," he said in an online broadcast in Jakarta, Antara, Monday, August 5. He explained that the climate phenomenon of upas dew is a serious threat that almost every year causes Sinak - Agandugume people to lack food to become a threat of hunger. Upas stockpiles are a phenomenon of the emergence of cold dew or freezing snow in mid-July, August to early September which freezes the surface of the land. This is the same as what happened in the mountainous region of Dieng, Central Java. However, the problem, according to him, is that this upas dew has a significant impact on the people of Puncak Papua because it has frozen to the point of damaging produce, such as tubers and the like as a source of food they plant and store in the ground. Historical data compiled by BNPB due to climate weather that hit Papua took place from 1997, 1998, 2015, 2018, 2019 and 2022. BNPB reported that the air flight line opened in 2023 from Timika to Sinak, but not all aircraft can land in Agandugume with a time of 40 minutes -1 flight hours or more because the airport there is not adequate. The distribution of food can only be done by Caravan aircraft from Timika to Sinak followed by a two-day road trip to Agandugume.

Reflecting on these conditions, the Coordinating Ministry for Human Development and Culture (Kemenko PMK), BNPB, the Central Papua Provincial Government (Pemprov), and the TNI, in 2023 committed that the condition of the shortage of food should not be repeated this year by the community, by building a food warehouse.