Dry spell threatens lives

Farmer of Kelam Village, Andrew Kunjil (in yellow cap), standing on the dried water supply that supplies more than 8-9 households at Kelam Village. He was speaking to the members of the mainstream media in Mt Hagen earlier this week. (NBC News)

Lives are at stake as food gardens and water sources are dying and drying in this prolong dry spell.

While Western Highlands is known for being the "food basket" of PNG, this is not so anymore as ground becomes dry and dusty difficult for garden foods to grow and water becomes scarce.

People in Western Highlands Province are now starting to feel the real effect of this dry spell or Elnino roasting their food gardens and drying up their source of water for drinking, cooking, bathing, and general use.

One farmer of Hagen Central District at Kelam Village William Pupti said garden was his only source of survival.

Mr. Pupti said farming was helped him and his family built their permanent family hous3, helped pay for his children's schools fees and basically sustain him and his family's survival.

However, he added now with this prolong dryness, he and other members of his community cannot plant food especially in large quantity like sweet potatoes, cabbages, potatoes and or broccoli to supply markets.

" My family and I live on garden to sustain our livelihoods. I produce garden foods like cabbages, potatoes, and others in large quantity to supply markets in Lae, Pom and contract engagements with Highlands Fresh.

"That's when rain and sun accompanies each other. Now it hard to produce good food because the dryness has affected all our gardens and water sources," farmer Pupti stressed.

Farmer of Kelam Village in Hagen Central William Pupti standing with his children in front of his new house that he generated money from the gardens to build this permanent house. Now he says the long dry spell has affected the production of his garden produce. (NBC News)

Also another farmer Andrew Kunjil spoke of the village's only source of clean water that has completely stopped flowing forcing locals to look for clean water.

" The only source of clean water that is pumped out from the head of the river has been affected, lowering the water pressure and eventually the water source dried up entirely, affecting almost a thousand users of the water.

"Now we are looking for water from the big rivers [which are also drying] and doing rationing, telling people not to fetch a large quantity of water, rather enough for use," farmer Kunjil elaborated.

This El Nino which is predicted to be the hardest around the months of September-November will surely had a tremendous negative impacts on the daily lives of the people of Western Highlands and calls are forwarded strongly to the DDAs and the provincial government and other stakeholders to seriously look into this natural catastrophe and find measures possible to help sustain the livelihoods of the people of Western Highlands Province.

And if Western Highlands the "food basket" of PNG is now faced with this truth of Elnino, PNG is at its vulnerable stage of collapsing unless government is serious about this phenomenon.