Govt launches 'rice for the poor' program

Govt launches 'rice for the poor' program

Johannes Simbolon, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The National Logistics Agency (Bulog) will distribute a total
of 2.35 million tons of low-priced rice to 9.79 million poor
households across the country this year under the so-called "Rice
for the Poor" program launched on Sunday.

Bulog's head Widjanarko Puspoyo said the rice would be sold at
a price of Rp 1,000 (10.45 US cents) per kilogram and that each
family would receive a total of 20 kilograms per month throughout
the year.

In comparison, the lowest quality rice, IR 64, now sells for
around Rp 3,000 per kilogram in many marketplaces across the
country.

"We hope these rice allocations will be delivered to the needy
this year and the program will be implemented properly and
without any irregularities, as occurred in previous years,"
Widjanarko was quoted by Antara as saying when launching the
program in the Kapuk district of Jakarta.

Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources Purnomo Yusgiantoro
was present at the launch.

Widjanarko did not provide details of the mechanism through
which the rice would be distributed.

At the peak of the economic crisis in 1998, when tens of
millions of poor families suffered from a combination of soaring
prices for many commodities and rice shortages due to drought,
the government launched the so-called social safety net program,
including rice distribution for the poor, funded by the World
Bank.

The rice was distributed to poor families by the so-called
Village Resilience Board (LKMD), which is known as a corrupt
organization at the village and district administration level.

However, many irregularities were reported in the
implementation of the program, including corrupt officials
selling the rice at a price higher than that set by the
government and rice being distributed to non-needy families.

Moreover, most of the funds allocated to the social safety net
program fell prey to corruption by a number of politicians, due
to a lack of adequate internal controls.

The World Bank stopped channeling funds to the program in
1999.

Widjanarko said Bulog would use the so-called "social
compensation fund" to finance the "rice for the poor" program.
The "social compensation funds" are those to be collected by the
government as a result of the reduction in fuel subsidies planned
for this year.

Purnomo earlier said the funds would total Rp 2.8 trillion,
which would be used to finance various social programs, including
Rp 500 billion for food programs.

Widjanarko admitted that there had been a number of
deficiencies in the distribution of rice to the poor in previous
years, but he said that the government had vowed not to repeat
the same mistakes and was committed to constant improvements to
the program.

"For this year's food for the poor program, Bulog together
with the regional administrations has improved the records kept
on poor families so that the program will not miss its targets,"
he said.

He said that, based on the government's data, there were 14.7
million families across the country who fell into the "poor"
category and as such deserved to receive assistance under the
"rice for the poor" program. But the government this year can
only afford to provide sufficient rice funds for 9.79 million
poor families.

Bulog would distribute 200,000 tons of rice across the country
under the program this month, he said.

In the past, many poor families complained that Bulog had
distributed low-quality rice to them.

Widjanarko said the agency would use locally-produced rice in
the program, but provided an assurance of its quality.

"For sure, the color of rice that we shall distribute is not
as white as the imported rice's because that is how the locally-
produced rice looks, except for the rojolele rice.

"But I can guarantee that the rice is edible and soft," he
said.