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)