TheJakartaPost
Please Update your browser
Your browser is out of date, and may not be compatible with our website. A list of the most popular web browsers can be found below.
Just click on the icons to get to the download page.
Logistics agency to distribute 142,000 tons of rice to poor families in January
Change Size
Workers unload rice from a delivery truck on Aug. 8 at the Cipinang Central Rice Market in East Jakarta. (Antara/Muhammad Adimaja)
T
he State Logistics Agency (Bulog) is set to distribute 142,000 tons of rice to low-income families on Jan. 25 as part of the disbursement of the rice social assistance (Rastra) program in 2018.
Bulog operational director Karyawan Gunarso said on Tuesday the rice assistance would be distributed to more than 50,000 locations across the country.
"We have been instructed by the government to distribute Rastra to 14.2 million families this January," he said, adding that the program was under the supervision of the Coordinating Human Development and Culture Ministry.
This year, the number of government assistance recipients has swelled over 10 times to 15.5 million families, from only 1.2 million last year.
The government has two types of the social assistance — rice for the poor through Bulog and noncash social assistance, which is distributed through cards.
According to the National Development Planning Board (Bappenas), the assistance will be given in form of rice instead of cash.
Each family will receive 10 kilograms rice on the 25th of every month.
Karyawan said Bulog’s rice stocks for the program reached 150,000 tons, which would be enough until April. “Should we have a shortage in rice stock, the government has allocated Rp 2.5 trillion (US$200 million), which is equal to 270,000 to 300,000 tons of rice
The social assistance is one of the government's measures to alleviate poverty. According the Central Statistics Agency (BPS), the poverty rate reached 10.12 percent last year (srs/bbn)
