KIDAPAWAN CITY, Philippines?Food has become so scarce again in the hinterlands of North Cotabato that members of the province?s indigenous communities have turned to poison anew to survive the dry spell.

In previous years, when the El Niño phenomenon also destroyed crops and killed animals, at least a dozen lumad, including children, died from eating wild yam or kayos.

For the lumad, dying on an empty stomach was more painful, says Dulfo Kabengo, a leader of the Protestant Church in Matalam, North Cotabato.

Kabengo said the dry spell that communities are experiencing in the hinterlands of the town since January has forced starving lumad to dig wild yam and cook them for meals.

Wild yam, or kayos, is edible if cooked well but is highly poisonous when ill-prepared.

Kabengo, of the Southern Baptist Church in Barangay Tamped in Matalam, said at least 32 lumad families started subsisting on kayos because of lack of food.

?This is the kind of food that the tribesmen would eat in times of difficulties,? he said.

Kabengo said the corn fields that the lumads were looking forward to for food had wilted and have become useless due to the intense heat.

He said there has been no assistance from the government so far.

?We are forced to eat this kind of food for survival since the government has not extended any assistance to us yet,? Kabengo said, when asked if the lumad were not afraid of eating potentially poisonous root crops.

He said preparing kayos as an alternative food was not an easy task.

?It needs a very meticulous preparation to produce poison-free dough for safe consumption,? he said.

Kabengo said the lumad would coat the peeled kayos in a mixture of wood powder and salt for two to three nights.

But it could not be eaten yet even after that process.

Kabengo said the kayos should still be washed in flowing water for four to five days to remove the wood powder particles.

He said the lumad would then slice the wild yam into chips and dry the chips under the sun for two weeks.

The chips would then be pounded to produce flour before it can be cooked.

Kabengo said the government should work fast to alleviate the condition of the lumad, who cannot do anything but try to find alternative sources of food due to lack of assistance.

In Matanao, Davao del Sur, more than 600 hectares of farms are drying up because of lack of water, the provincial agriculture office said.

Farmlands in other parts of the province, including those considered irrigated, are also drying up. Williamor A. Magbanua, Orlando Dinoy and Carlo Agamon, Inquirer Mindanao