Government provides rice at Rp 1,000/kg for the poor
Government provides rice at Rp 1,000/kg for the poor
JAKARTA (JP): The government announced yesterday a crash
program to help poor people most vulnerable to food shortages, by
selling them rice at a third of the going price.
Under the program, the government will provide medium-quality
rice at Rp 1,000 per kilogram to 7.35 million families whose
earnings are insufficient to bring them out of poverty.
A.M. Saefuddin, state minister for food and horticulture, told
reporters after a Cabinet meeting to review the economy that the
prolonged drought and deteriorating economic conditions over the
past year had combined to increase the number of people deemed as
vulnerable to food shortages.
President B.J. Habibie set up a food crisis center last month,
barely two weeks into his job, making the provision of basic
foodstuffs his chief priority.
Last week, the government secured an agreement from the
International Monetary Fund which allows the continuation of
subsidies for food and medicines to help the poor cushion the
impact of the economic crisis.
The government based its decision to provide subsidized rice
on the 1996 Food Law which stipulates that every citizen has the
right to decent food at affordable prices, Saefuddin said.
The State Logistics Agency (Bulog) will conduct special market
operations to distribute food directly to families entitled under
the program, he said.
The program will be launched in stages and will continue for
the next nine months, he said.
The first stage, which began yesterday, is aimed at 179,000
poor families in Greater Jakarta.
The second stage, beginning September, will cover 1.6 million
families in 53 regencies spread out in 15 provinces.
The last stage, starting in October, will cover all 7,354,052
poor families nationwide.
The number was established in a nationwide survey conducted by
the National Family Planning Board in May to June.
The government said the economic crisis had swelled the number
of families living below the poverty line.
Each entitled family has been issued cards allocating them 10
kg of medium-quality rice every month for Rp 1,000 each.
Saefuddin said the government needed 750,000 tons of rice for
the duration of the program.
"We've got the rice already. If you don't believe it, check
directly at Bulog's warehouses in all parts of Indonesia.
"We have local rice, and rice from Vietnam, India, China,
Thailand and Pakistan. The quality is guaranteed," he said.
Bulog chief Beddu Amang said the program would cost Rp 503
billion and would be entirely financed by the state budget.
In spite of a 6.26 percent decline in rice output this year,
Bulog should have sufficient rice all through the year, through
imports and the procurement of rice from local farmers, Saefuddin
said.
Bulog's rice stock at the end of June was 2.4 million tons.
(prb/emb)