Cheap rice for poor families<\/p>\n
Fitri Wulandari, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta<\/p>\n
The government on Saturday launched two national food aid
\nprograms for the poor.<\/p>\n
The National Food Aid Program for Poor Families was launched
\nin conjunction with the 21st World Food Day commemoration at
\nTaman Mini Indonesia Indah (TMII) theme park.<\/p>\n
The Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) has adopted
\n\"Fight Hunger to Reduce Poverty\" as the central theme for this
\nyear's World Food Day, which falls on Oct. 16.<\/p>\n
The programs consist of, respectively, the provision of
\nsubsidized rice to poor families, or Raskin, which will take
\neffect in 2002 and a food aid project for the poor initiated by
\nthe State Logistics Agency (Bulog) in Bekasi regency, West Java.<\/p>\n
Under Raskin, recipients will get the rice basically for free.
\nThey will only be required to pay a transport fee of Rp 84 per
\nkilogram of rice they receive.<\/p>\n
The programs were inaugurated by Vice President Hamzah Haz.<\/p>\n
Bulog chief Widjanarko Puspoyo said the pilot project in
\nBekasi was an aid program to tackle poverty, food shortages and
\nmalnutrition by involving the local government and the people.<\/p>\n
\"With this pilot project, the government hopes to formulate a
\ngood program which can be implemented by other regions to tackle
\nthe poverty problem,\" Widjanarko said.<\/p>\n
Raskin 2002, Widjanarko said, was designed to replace a
\nprevious program called the Special Market Operation for Rice and
\nthe Effect of Energy Subsidy Reduction Prevention Program (PPD-
\nPSE).<\/p>\n
According to the Bulog chief, the government has allocated Rp
\n4.7 trillion ($4.7 million). It will be used to procure 2.35
\nmillion tons of rice to be distributed to 9,79 million families.<\/p>\n
The Minister of Home Affairs, the National Family Planning
\nCoordinating Board (BKKBN), and the National Development Planning
\nAgency (Bappenas) are working on the distribution of rice
\nallocated to the provinces.<\/p>\n
To make sure that the rice aid reaches its target, Bulog will
\nuse data from the BKKBN and supervise its distribution.<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/cheap-rice-for-poor-families-1447893297",
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"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
"sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com"
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