Bekasi Regent Accompanied President Jokowi To Hand Over Rice Aid To KPM In Cibitung

President Joko Widodo greeted the beneficiaries of rice social assistance in the Bulog Cibitung Warehouse area, Bekasi Regency, West Java, Friday. ANTARA/Pradita Kurniawan Syah

Bekasi Regent Dani Ramdan accompanied the working visit of Indonesian President Joko Widodo in order to hand over rice aid sourced from government food reserves to beneficiary families around the Cibitung Bulog Warehouse, Bekasi Regency. The President who was present with the Minister of Trade Zulkifli Hasan, Minister of SOEs Erick Thohir, Acting Governor of West Java Bey Machmudin, Head of the National Food Agency Arief Prasetyo Adi, and President Director of Perum Bulog Bayu Krisnamurti first visited the warehouse while greeting local residents. "The visit of the President of the Republic of Indonesia to the Bekasi Regency area to deliver 10 kilograms of rice assistance to one family. Assistance is given gradually every month," said Dani Ramdan, quoted from Antara, Friday, February 16. He said the symbolic distribution of food aid was given to 1,020 beneficiary families in the Sukadanau area, West Cikarang, out of a total of 140,000 beneficiary families throughout Bekasi Regency. "The distribution of this food aid will still be continued in stages until June, with details of the distribution of 10 kilograms of rice assistance per month per family," he said. He said the President gave a mandate to local governments to continue to strive to provide direct assistance to the community on target in the midst of a food crisis that has an impact on rice prices. "Food prices are rising, including rice. With this, the government wants to help the community directly so that they are right on target," he said. The Bekasi Regency Government through the Agriculture Service has also routinely provided assistance to people in food-prone areas, in addition to assistance from the central government today. Indonesian President Joko Widodo conveyed that food social assistance in the form of rice had been distributed to recipients since January and would be continued until June 2024 with the option of an extension if the budget was sufficient. Jokowi admitted that the whole world is currently in a food crisis which has resulted in rice prices rising in various parts of the world.

"In other countries, there is no such thing as rice food assistance like what we have, and we calculate that our APBN is able to provide, so we give it," he said.