www.islandsbusiness.com/news/...ille-appeal-for-food-supplies/
BUKA, PNG --- More than 5,000 people in the Rorovana Village of Central Bougainville are in dire need of food supplies.
B/VILLE - FOOD SHORTAGE: POST COURIER PACNEWS 2: Thu 21 Mar 2013
The continuous heavy rain in Central Bougainville and most parts of the island region as well as the country, is causing havoc and has taken its toll on the coastal village of Rorovana wherein all the food gardens have been washed away.
“All our gardens are under the water. The flood has swept away our gardens. We are uprooting all the garden food at the moment, leaving no crops in the water. We need assistance from the relevant government authorities at this moment,” spokesperson Patrick Boaz told Post-Courier..
He added that the garden produce uprooted will run out anytime this week.
Boaz who came to town to seek help from the Kieta District Office was turned away when he could not see relevant authorities to lodge his appeal.
Instead he approached this paper to at least get his appeal out for authorities to see and supply food items as soon as possible. The two weeks of continuous heavy downpour has caused the gardens to flood, resulting in garden produces like taro, kaukau, banana and tapioca all under the water. The level of the flood waters is very high.
“Our gardens are all underwater. The water level is like up to our belly-button (stomach). What we are doing now is we are just uprooting and harvesting whatever that is in the water, whether it is ready for harvesting or not. It doesn’t matter because if we leave them (foods) there, they (foods) will go bad.
That’s why we have to harvest everything in the garden to save some of the food,” a concerned Boaz said.
He said most of the garden produce have already gone bad because of the water and if the sun comes back, its goodbye to our garden produce, everything will begin to rot.
The Rorovana people who have settled in the outskirts of Arawa Town, along the Loloho Basin since the early colonial period, have been making their gardens at one location, the Rorovana 2 Village.
With the ever-increasing population and shortage of land, the big village of Rorovana has separated into two locations with others migrating to Vito and Tarara. “All the villagers’ gardens are located at one place, at Rorovana 2 Village, beside the bridge. We all do our gardens at the same place, thus this has affected all of us, everyone in Rorovana, both 1 and 2 villages.”
According to Chief Boaz, everything (garden produce) which is underwater will go bad if the rain stops and the sun comes back out again.
“It will be a matter of days before we run out of food, thus we need help from the Buka Disaster Office and any other relevant authorities.
When this paper contacted the Buka Disaster Office to check on the Rorovana appeal, there was no one in the office. Further query, located the Disaster office boss Franklyn Lessie to be on leave at his village on Buka Island.
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