WFP distributes rice to the poor

JAKARTA (JP): United Nations World Food Program (WFP) executive director Catherine Bertini (right) distributes rice during a visit to Cipinang Besar Selatan, East Jakarta.

Bertini announced on Monday that the WFP was extending its Indonesian relief program here for 18 months.

However, she said there would be a shift in the focus of the program -- from an emergency one to a rehabilitation one -- as socioeconomic conditions here had improved significantly.

"After the 18 months we will assess the condition again, then we can maybe leave Indonesia after that," Bertini said after visiting three slum areas in Jakarta that have received support from the program.

Some US$64 million will be spent until December 2001 to distribute 171,000 tons of rice and other food to poor communities.

The WFP, set up to fight global hunger, had been working in Indonesia for 33 years, before ending its operations here in 1996.

But, when the economic and political crisis hit they returned in May 1998 with an emergency food aid program.

The emergency program has so far supported 5.2 million people from 650 poor communities across the country.

The program includes a special market operation that sells rice at a subsidized price of Rp 1,000 per kilogram, food aid for school children to ensure that they will stay in school and distributes free rice to the poor.

"We're keeping people alive," she remarked of the program's success.

Despite extending their assistance, Bertini said the number of recipients of the program would decrease to 2.4 million people. She asserted that the number of people in dire need in the country had decreased and that the government was also better able to help those remaining. (04)