Number of poor people in Nusa Tenggara rises

JAKARTA (JP): The number of poor people in East and West Nusa Tenggara is on the rise, but distribution of cheap rice to them is pending a decision from the National Family Planning Development Board, an official has said.

Provincial logistics agency (Dolog) distribution manager Bakri said on Saturday that the government had provided 188,156 families 10 kilograms of rice at a subsidized price of Rp 1,000 from January to May this year.

But now at least 197,115 families are in need of subsidized rice, the Mataram-based distribution official said as quoted by Antara, citing a Dolog survey taken from July to August.

East Lombok took the lion's share of the subsidized rice, he said, with 77,381 families targeted by distributors. Central Lombok had 57,258 families in need of assistance, while West Lombok had 33,673 families in the program.

But many people not covered by the program are clamoring for cheap rice, said Bakri. The number of poor families is based on figures from the National Family Planning Development Board.

"It's true that many needy people are not getting cheap rice because the distribution is based on data compiled before the crisis," he said.

Dolog's new data has been forwarded to the board, which will decide whether it will increase the scope of its distribution network. Dolog must wait for a decision before it can sell cheap rice to more families, he said.

In Kupang, East Nusa Tenggara, Governor Piter Alexander Tallo said the number of poor families there had increased to 518,411 from 389,659.

The figures are based on the government definition of prasejahtera (literally "yet to be prosperous") in which families are unable to meet basic minimum needs.

More families are expected to fall into destitution in the province since 1.3 million working-aged people out of a total population of 3.5 million are currently unemployed.

Failed rice harvests and significantly smaller yields in other staple crops resulting in a shortage of 81,493 tons of crops compared to precrisis times has also forced many families into poverty, Tallo said.

Besides the government program to supply cheap rice to impoverished families, the governor said the province's poorest families would receive rice for free.

Labor-intensive projects with daily wages of at least Rp 4,500 are also being carried out along with free additional nutritional supplements for pregnant women and infants, he added. (yac/anr)