Maintain Community Purchasing Power, Rice Food Assistance Extended From October To December 2023

Head of the National Food Agency Arief Prasetyo Adi. (Photo: Doc. Badanas)

JAKARTA - The government has decided to return to distributing rice food assistance to 21.353 million Beneficiary Families (KPM) at the end of 2023.

This step aims to maintain people's purchasing power and control inflation in 2023.

Perum Bulog was appointed as the executor of the distribution of aid. The assignment is stated through letter number 171/TS.03.03/K/7/2023 dated July 21, 2023 regarding the Assignment of Government Food Reserve Distribution in the context of Rice Food Assistance.

Head of the National Food Agency (NFA) Arief Prasetyo Adi said the additional rice food assistance was in accordance with the results of the Ratas decision on Increasing Food Product Production and Downstreaming on July 10, 2023.

"President Joko Widodo ordered to continue the rice food aid distribution program based on the proposal of the National Food Agency," said Arief in Jakarta, Tuesday, July 24.

Arief explained that the distribution of rice aid was a continuation of the food aid distribution program to 21.353 million KPM with total rice assistance reaching 640,000 tons which had been completed in three stages, namely in March, April, and June 2023.

"We have assigned Perum Bulog to prepare for the distribution of rice food aid in October, November, and December 2023," he said.

According to Arief, this assistance can be a social cushion for low-income people to maintain purchasing power and food inflation control efforts, where we will face the momentum of Christmas 2023 and New Year 2024.

"The government is aware of the potential increase in food demand (demand) during the Christmas and New Year periods where the increase must be anticipated so as not to have an impact on the surge in food prices," he said.

The amount of assistance

For this extension, said Arief, the amount of rice food assistance was the same as the previous assistance, which was 10 kilograms (Kg) per recipient.

Arief explained that this rice food aid will be disbursed in three stages, so that each KPM will receive 30 kg of rice.

"The assistance comes from the Government Rice Reserve (CBP) managed by Perum Bulog based on Presidential Regulation Number 125 of 2022 concerning the Implementation of Government Food Reserves," he explained.