North Central Timor Regency

North Central Timor Regency was de jure formed on 9 August 1958 from three autonomous royal regions (swapraja) but de facto function only began early November 1958 after its first regent was sworn in. Since 1915, the region had been part of Onderafdeeling Noord Miden Timor during Dutch rule; it was composed of the native kingdoms of Miomaffo, Insana, and Biboki. In 1921, the administrative seat was moved from the town of Noeltoko to its current location in Kefemenanu;[5] the move is annually commemorated by the local government since 2005.[6]

In 1942, the Japanese forces occupied the Dutch East Indies. Local government structure changed little under the Japanese, who mostly preserved it to simplify civil administration. In 1946, after the end of the Second World War, during the Malino Conference, the region's local rulers wanted to be included in Lesser Sunda province, together with Bali and West Nusa Tenggara, under the newly formed Indonesian Republic.[7] Local administration was reorganized in 1949 after independence, and formed its own parliament under Timor Regional Law Number 10 of 1949.[7][5] In a parliament session between 10 and 12 May 1950, it voted in favour of disbanding the State of East Indonesia under the United States of Indonesia and forming a unitary Indonesian state, which was realized not long after.[7] Shortly before the creation of the regency, Lesser Sunda province was split into West Nusa Tenggara, Bali, and East Nusa Tenggara provinces.[5]

During the Indonesian occupation of East Timor and the subsequent independence referendum and violence that followed, many civilians from East Timor fled to the regency, causing a huge increase in the population. Many were integrated into the regency's society to the point they constituted 8.1% of the regency's population.[8] The regency was devastated by Cyclone Seroja in early 2021, prompting the relocation of several settlements and buildings by Indonesian government.[9][10]

North Central Timor Regency borders South Central Timor Regency in the south, the country East Timor in the north, Kupang Regency in the west, and Belu Regency in the east. It has a total area of 2,669.70 km² (1,030.78 sq mi) or 5.6% of the province's area. Most of the regency has slopes below 40 degrees, consisting of 77.4%. Most of the regency is less than 500 meters (1,600 ft) above sea level. Around 74%, 97,948 hectares (378.18 sq mi) of the regency's area is used for plantation and agriculture, and only 20,685 hectares (79.87 sq mi) are used for human settlement.[11]

Most of the regency's soil is litosol and grumusol, and is relatively fertile. The region's climate is classified as semi-arid, which makes large-scale farming challenging due to low precipitation compared to other regions in Indonesia. To solve this, the government of Indonesia has built several new dams in the region to avoid drought and secure access to water for its population.[12][13][11]

The temperature ranges from 22–34 degrees Celsius (71.6–93.2 °F), with air humidity level between 69 and 87% annually. Between June and September, wind comes from Australia, bringing little water vapor to the region, and the dry season begins. The region is prone to drought and harvest failure.[11]

The Regency's gross regional product (GRP) is dominated by agriculture, which makes up 39.82% of its economy. The second-biggest sector is administration with 16.77%, followed by construction with 9.55% and education with 7.41%. In 2020, the fastest-growing sector was electricity and gas, with a growth of 18.10%, followed by information and communication with 14.97%; the fastest-declining sector is mining with a decrease of 28.98% in the same year.[18][4] Economic growth was 5.1% in 2019 but later fell to -0.55% because of COVID-19 pandemic.[18] The regency has 32 registered market centers and 80 registered stores. From the scale, there are 123 trading facilities that area considered to facilitate large-scale trading by Indonesian Statistics. There were 62 active cooperatives as of 2020.

Almost all of the regency's restaurants and hotels are located in Kefamenanu. As of 2020, there are 137 registered restaurants, of which 114 or 83% are located in Kefamenanu, and 11 hotels.[4] In 2020, agriculture output included red onions (36 tons), garlic (30.3 tons), red chilli (18.7 tons), cabbages (41.2 tons), mustard greens (235.5 tons), and asparagus (16.9 tons). Other crops were coconuts (555 tons), cashews (913 tons), and candlenuts (1,655 tons) in the same year.[4] The regency's livestock in 2020 includes 129,325 cows for meat consumption and 82,126 pigs. The fish catch was 748.3 tons and aquaculture yielded 162.4 tons of fish.[4]

In the 2020 census, the population of the regency was 259,829, with a sex ratio of 100.53, which means there are roughly 101 males per 100 females within the population. As with most of Indonesia, the regency's population is young and dominated by a workforce above 15 years, consisting of 141,985 of the population. The most populous district is Kefamenanu, which had 49,095 people in mid 2022, around 18.3% of the regency's population; the town is also the economic center for the regency. West Miomaffo District has the lowest male–female sex ratio with 0.95:1, and the highest is Biboki Feotleu with 1.43:1.[4]

In 2020, Catholic Christians comprised 90.13% of the population; 7.47% were Protestant Christians, and the remainder were Muslims, Hindus, and Buddhists.[4] The literacy rate was 95.21% in 2020; male literacy was 96.11% and female literacy was 94.35%. The school participation rate was 98.87%.[19] The same year, the regency's poverty rate of 22.28% was high relative to other regions in Indonesia.[4]