Good News, Government Rice Food Aid Begins To Be Distributed Gradually

Illustration (Photo: Doc. Antara)

JAKARTA - The government has started distributing food aid to 21.353 million beneficiary families (KPM) according to data from the Ministry of Social Affairs in stages starting today, Friday, March 31.

Head of the National Food Agency Arief Prasetyo Adi said the regulatory process related to the distribution of this assistance had been completed so that it could be distributed to beneficiaries.

"This distribution of aid can be executed by Bulog starting March 31, 2023," said Arief in his statement in Jakarta.

Arief said that this food aid in the form of rice was a follow-up to President Joko Widodo's (Jokowi) direction in a meeting at the Palace with the Minister and the Head of related institutions in order to maintain food stability and suppress the surge in inflation.

"As we said on several previous occasions, we will distribute this rice aid to the community from the end of March to May. So we hope that this will reduce the burden on the expenditure of the beneficiary community," said Arief.

Arief said, to meet the needs of distributing this rice aid, a total of around 630,000 tons of rice is needed.

In the first month, 210,000 tons will be disbursed by Bulog to beneficiaries.

For the sake of smooth distribution of the rice aid, Arief asked the provincial, district/city governments to support the distribution process so that it is right on target.

"Support from the local government through the food office and social services is very important in the distribution of this assistance so that when the distribution of rice aid is received by the KPM appropriately, its implementation is smooth, orderly and administrative and there are no mistakes that result in state losses," said Arief.