Govt Food Aid Program Aims to Provide Rice for 21 Million People

TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Head of National Food Agency (Bapanas) Arief Prasetyo Adi on Sunday announced that the government’s rice food aid is currently being packaged and is set to be distributed to 21.353 low-income families. 

This means each person with the right to access the aid will receive 10 kilograms of rice for the next three months. 

"We will immediately disburse this food assistance for the next three months with a target of 21.353 million beneficiary families, which is based on the Ministry of Social Affairs database. Perum Bulog (state logistics agency) has received an assignment from the government to distribute it to all of these beneficiaries," Arief stated on March 26.

Such government social assistance was initially ordered by President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo who intends to maintain the country’s food stability and suppress spikes in inflation.

In terms of distribution, he said it will be Bulog’s authority up to the last stage of the distribution, Antaranews reported. 

Arief acknowledged that fluctuations in the price of rice at the moment are indeed putting pressure on consumers, especially low-income people. He hopes this government assistance can act as a social cushion and help people obtain affordable rice of good quality.

ANTARA

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