Rice stock dwindles, thousands of poor people facing hunger<\/p>\n
The Jakarta Post, Jakarta<\/p>\n
Thousands of poor people in the Central Sulawesi regencies of
\nBanggai and the neighboring Banggai Islands are at risk of going
\nhungry as the local administration is falling short of cheap
\nrice.<\/p>\n
The poor are among the millions of people listed as buyers of
\ngovernment-subsidized rice under the cheap rice program, which
\nwas initiated to address the impact of the prolonged economic
\ncrisis. The distribution of cheap rice in the two regencies is
\nconducted by the depot of logistics in the town of Luwuk, over
\n100 kilometers away from Banggai.<\/p>\n
Head of the depot Nicolas Mawuntu told Antara on Friday his
\noffice had only 920 tons of rice left in stock.<\/p>\n
"Our stock won't be enough to supply such a large number of
\npeople. It will last only a week," Nicolas said.<\/p>\n
The supply may be depleted even faster now that demand is
\nincreasing in relation to the Idul Fitri holiday, which falls on
\nFriday and Saturday next week.<\/p>\n
Nicolas said the stock was part of the 3,000 tons of rice
\nrecently imported by the provincial depot of logistics in
\nVietnam.<\/p>\n
Without revealing any details, he said the central government
\ncontributed a little to the supply of cheap rice. The Luwuk depot
\nof logistics has brought in rice from other regencies to maintain
\nits stock since last July, he added.<\/p>\n
Luwuk is dubbed the second largest rice supplier in Central
\nSulawesi, but prolonged drought has caused harvest failure
\nthroughout thousands of hectares of usually productive paddy
\nfields.<\/p>\n
"We cannot buy unhusked rice from farmers whose fields
\nsurvived the drought, because we offer a price of only Rp 1,500
\nper kilogram as set by the government, which is far below the
\nmarket price," Nicolas said.<\/p>\n
Pests, which were rampant in some districts, are also being
\nblamed for the harvest failure this year.<\/p>\n
Nicolas said that in anticipation of the growing demand for
\nrice during Idul Fitri, the provincial administration had
\npromised to bring 1,500 tons of imported rice for distribution to
\nBanggai and the Banggai Islands before the Islamic holiday.<\/p>\n
Nicolas regretted the slow response from both the provincial
\nand central governments to the impending threat of hunger. He
\nsaid he had urged related institutions in Palu and Jakarta to
\ninitiate a relief program and speed up the shipping of rice.<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/rice-stock-dwindles-thousands-of-poor-people-facing-hunger-1447893297",
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