Coordinating Minister Zulhas: Rice Food Assistance Was Not Distributed In March And April 2025

Coordinating Minister for Food Zulhas (Photo: Antara)

JAKARTA - The government will stop the distribution of temporary rice food assistance in March and April 2025, which is the momentum of Ramadan and Eid al-Fitr 1446 Hijri. The reason is because it is entering the main harvest season.

This was conveyed by the Coordinating Minister for Food Affairs, Zulkifli Hasan alias Zulhas during a press conference at the Office of the Coordinating Ministry for Food, Jakarta, Monday, January 6.

"And the peak of the harvest will be in March-April, so it will be a bit advanced. So in March-April, it is impossible for us to have a SPHP, or food assistance," he said.

Zulhas said that the temporary suspension of rice food assistance and stabilization of Food Supply and Prices (SPHP) or market operations was carried out to maintain the price of unhulled rice at the farmer level so as not to fall during the main harvest.

"We don't want the SPHP to be harvested anymore, there is rice distribution, it will interfere with prices," he explained.

Food Aid Plus 6 Months

Zulhas said that the government had determined food assistance for 16 million beneficiary families (KPM) to be distributed for 2 months, namely January and February 2025. Then, the distribution of food aid was decided to be added for four months. With the fruit, the total food aid distributed is six months.

Even so, Zulhas said the government had not yet decided the time for distributing rice food aid after January and February 2025.

"When are the four months? We will wait for the final decision (limited meeting) to wait," said Zulhas.

Zulhas said the government prepared as much as 160,000 tons of rice per month for rice food assistance, where each KPM received 10 kilogrma (kg) of rice per month.

"Then it has been agreed in the meeting, the food assistance will be 160,000 tons per month," he explained.