The Government Will Revise The Rules For Distributing Food Aid, Head Of Badanas: Not Changed, But Added

Head of Badanas Arief Prasetyo Adi. (Photo: Theresia Agatha/VOI)

JAKARTA - The National Food Agency (Bapanas) plans to add points to the rules for distributing food aid in Presidential Regulation (Perpres) Number 125 of 2022 regarding the Implementation of Government Food Reserves.

Head of Badanas Arief Prasetyo Adi said, the regulation will add points that food assistance will be disbursed for poverty alleviation.

Thus, whoever the government ranks will be, this program is expected to continue.

"So it's not actually changed, but added. So, to ensure that food assistance is later whoever is the minister, whoever is the head of the body, whoever is the President Director of Bulog, specifically for food assistance for poverty alleviation, vulnerable areas are still running," said Arief when met at the Smesco Building, Jakarta, Friday, May 17.

"That way, later it will be connected to the target of accelerating the elimination of extreme poverty. So, where are the regions, how many, later the government will specifically intervene," he continued.

According to Arief, so far in Presidential Decree No. 125 of 2022 concerning the Implementation of Government Food Reserves, rice food assistance provided by 10 kilograms of rice per recipient is only distributed to low-income people, vulnerable areas prone to food and disasters.

Therefore, the government will continue to update the recipient data as recently as possible. With the revision of the regulation, it is hoped that the poverty rate in Indonesia can decrease.

"We will continue to update it, because every month there is just new data. Whether it's because he (the beneficiary) has moved, or what," he added.

Previously, the Head of Badanas Arief Prasetyo Adi assessed that the 10 kg rice food assistance program disbursed by the government was very much needed by the community, especially those with low income.

He said rice food assistance is a government program in the form of distributing rice to beneficiary families (KPM).

The program is one of the utilization of government rice reserves (CBP) in accordance with the mandate of Presidential Regulation (Perpres) Number 125 of 2022 concerning Management of Government Food Reserves.

The assistance was given to the low-income community, namely KPM based on data on the Order for the Acceleration of the Elimination of Extreme Poverty (P3KE) of the Coordinating Ministry for Human Development and Culture. The amount of assistance is 10 kg of rice per KPM per month.

The provision of this assistance has been carried out since early 2023 and continues in 2024. 10 kg of rice food assistance in 2024 is distributed from January to March to 22 million KPM based on P3KE Data from the Coordinating Ministry for Human Development and Culture.

The assistance was then extended to phase two, namely April to June 2024.