Rice Supply Will Be Added To 1,000 Tons To Aceh Region, North Sumatra-West Sumatra

Coordinating Minister for Food Affairs Zulkifli Hasan. (Photo: Mery Handayani/VOI)

JAKARTA - The government through the Coordinating Ministry for Food has asked Perum Bulog to double the supply of rice in flood-affected areas, namely Aceh, North Sumatra (North Sumatra) and West Sumatra (West Sumatra).

Coordinating Minister for Food Affairs Zulkifli Hasan said rice stocks in flood-affected areas needed to be increased.

Although, he admits it is not easy to distribute it given the conditions on the ground.

"We ask and have been done although it is not easy to supply Aceh twice as much as before. So if the need is usually 500 tons, it will be flooded to 1,000 tons as well as North Sumatra and West Sumatra," he said at a press conference, at the Coordinating Ministry for Food, Jakarta, Tuesday, December 2.

Zulhas, as he is familiarly called, said that the challenge in handling this flood disaster was the cut off of the connecting routes between regions. This condition, said Zulhas, makes the distribution of aid only accessible by air.

"Indeed, some of North Sumatra are the hardest, but Aceh is almost 9 districts. West Sumatra also has many broken roads. I plan to go to Sibolga the day after tomorrow, I wanted to go to Aceh but the road has not yet been continued," he said.

Zulhas said, because it was quite difficult to access by land, the government moved quickly by deploying helicopters to send aid to isolated areas due to flooding.

"I've asked the National Police Chief to send two helicopters for two days, two from the Ministry of Transportation, plus two more. There are also several private colleagues who have helicopters, those who are close to leaving are also Riau, it's already departed," he said.

Previously, Perum Bulog would double the rice stock in Aceh, North Sumatra, and West Sumatra. This step was taken to anticipate the handling of floods that lasted longer and had a broad impact.

Bulog President Director Ahmad Rizal Ramdhani said the stock of rice in the affected areas had been absorbed for emergency needs. In Aceh, before the rice stock disaster, it was recorded at 97,416 tons and now only 82,296 tons.

Meanwhile, in North Sumatra (North Sumatra) the stock fell from 43,636 tons to 29,943 tons. Meanwhile, West Sumatra (West Sumatra) from 9,530 tons to 7,996 tons.

Rizal said, because. the decline, Bulog decided to double the stock in anticipation.

"We analyze the handling of the impact of disasters in the three provinces at this time will be longer and wider. Therefore, we have doubled the stock of rice in disaster areas," Rizal said in a virtual coordination meeting at the Ministry of Home Affairs Office, Jakarta, Monday, December 1.

Rizal also ensured that the distribution of rice aid in disaster areas was carried out optimally to all regional governments (Pemda) in need, without exception.

"So we distribute this as much as possible and give the best rice," he said.

Dia bilang, proses administrasi pengiriman beras bencana telah dipermudah.

Kini, para kepala daerah hanya perlu mengirimkan surat permohonan bantuan beras ke Kepala Badan Pangan Nasional yang ditembuskan ke Kantor Bulog Pusat dan Kantor Bulog Daerah.

Rizal bilang, surat tersebut dapat bisa langsung menjadi bukti pengiriman beras ke daerah terdampak banjir.

“Jadi kami lakukan diskresi, tujuannya adalah untuk mempercepat jangan sampai masyarakat kekurangan beras ataupun logistik lainnya di tempat-tempat bencana,” katanya.

He said the administrative process for the delivery of disaster rice had been made easier.

Now, regional heads only need to send a letter requesting rice assistance to the Head of the National Food Agency which was copied to the Head of the Central Logistics Agency and the Regional Logistics Agency Office.

Rizal said the letter could directly be evidence of the delivery of rice to flood-affected areas.

"So we do discretion, the goal is to speed up so that people don't lack rice or other logistics in disaster places," he said.