Poor villagers eat rice shavings

TANGERANG (JP): At least five families from Kohod village in Pakuhaji district here cannot afford to buy rice and have been forced to eat shavings of the grain left over from the milling process.

The five families, among 116 in the village who are living below the poverty line, said they had eaten rice shavings to avoid starvation.

They said they could not afford to buy rice, which has risen sharply in price as a result of severe drought last year and the ongoing monetary crisis.

Chief of administrative affairs in the village, Surya, said the heads of the impoverished families were laborers, farmers and shrimp collectors.

"Their incomes are so low that they cannot even afford to buy rice," he said.

The district secretary, Maesyal Rasyid, admitted the five families had no choice but to eat rice shavings. He added that a total of 2,328 families were living below the poverty line in the district.

Maesyal said the local office of the National Family Planning Board (BKKBN) and the State Logistics Agency (Bulog) had donated 23 tons of rice to help poor people in the district.

He said the rice would be sold once a month in 14 villages in the district for the next nine months.

"The rice is sold for Rp 1,000 a kilogram. A family is allowed to buy a maximum of 10 kilograms each month," Maesyal said.

He added that local residents were happy with the scheme and hoped it would continue for a long time.

He said the district had also organized labor intensive projects which provided some people with modest incomes. (41/jun)