WFP offers cheap rice to help urban poor people

JAKARTA (JP): The government in cooperation with the World Food Program (WFP) launched on Wednesday a new program to help urban poor people most vulnerable to food shortages by selling them rice at 40 percent of the market price.

Under the program, WFP will sell medium-quality rice at Rp 1,000 per kilogram with a ceiling per family of a maximum 5 kilograms per week or a maximum 20 kilograms per month.

Philip J. Clarke, the country representative of the WFP, said the program aimed to assist 2.5 million poor people in urban slums in the Greater Jakarta area, Surabaya, Semarang, Bandung, and possibly Medan, which is not covered by the government assistance.

"WFP will provide 83,650 tons of rice, worth US$27.8 million for this program. The program is to start today (Wednesday) lasting for eight months until the end of March 2000," Clarke said after the signing ceremony for the agreement.

The program, called the Community's self-reliance Market Operation, was launched by Clarke and officials from the State Ministry of Food and Horticulture and the State Logistics Agency (Bulog).

Clarke said the market operation would be implemented in cooperation with non-governmental organizations (NGOs), which would be responsible for the assessment of the beneficiaries, their registration and the sale of rice under the supervision of WFP and the state minister's office.

"The NGOs have conducted door-to-door surveys to register the suitable recipients," he said.

Targeted beneficiaries are those who can only afford one meal per day, can not afford to consume protein-rich meals once a week, and do not have jobs.

Other recipients will be those who can not obtain a citizen identification card and are not covered by the government's special market operation.

State Minister for Food and Horticulture A.M. Saefuddin said after the signing ceremony 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.

"This program is different from the government's special market operation because it will be focused on people in urban slums, who no longer have access to either industrial or agricultural resources," he said.

Saefuddin said his office and WFP had allocated 50,850 tons of rice to be distributed to 285,000 families in the Greater Jakarta area, 16,800 tons to 120,000 families in Surabaya, 8,800 tons for 55,000 families in Semarang, 5,400 tons for 30,000 families in Bandung and 18,000 tons for 10,000 families in Yogyakarta.

Clarke said funds generated from the program would be managed by WFP to be used for the purchase of locally produced rice, for use in other WFP-assisted operations in Indonesia and to encourage 237,000 primary school children to stay at schools.

Clarke said WFP had so far channeled $135 million worth of food aid, including rice, wheat and blended food to Indonesia. (gis)