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Bulog finds 20,000 tons of rotten rice, another 100,000 tons in poor condition
In addition to the rotten rice, another 100,000 tons of Bulog’s stocks of 2.3 million tons of rice are in poor condition after being kept in warehouses for more than four months.
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Workers carry sacks of medium quality rice at a warehouse belonging to the State Logistics Agency (Bulog) in Purwasari, Karawang, West Java. (Antara/M Ibnu Chazar)
T
he State Logistics Agency (Bulog) estimates it has about 20,000 tons of rotten rice in its warehouses, in addition to another 100,000 tons that are in poor condition.
Bulog president director Budi Waseso said the rice, which had previously been worth about Rp 160 billion (US$11.3 million), would be first tested by the Indonesian Food and Drug Monitoring Agency (BPOM) before the agency decided what to do with it.
"When the results come out, we will see which of the rice needs to be disposed of and which rice can be processed into other food products," he told the press in Jakarta on Tuesday.
In addition to the decayed rice, the other 100,000 tons of Bulog’s existing stocks of 2.3 million tons are in poor condition after being kept in warehouses for more than four months, the agency said.
Separately, Bulog operations and public service director Tri Wahyudi Saleh confirmed on Nov. 29 that the rotten rice had been worth about Rp 160 billion based on a price assumption of Rp 8,000 per kilogram.
He said that the 20,000 tons of the rotten rice has been kept in warehouses for more than a year because of changes in the government’s Rice Assistance Program (Rastra) for poor people, which is part of the non-cash food assistance program (BPNT).
Under Rastra, the government assigned Bulog to be the sole distributor of 10 kg of rice to each low-income family. Meanwhile, under the BPNT scheme, each family would receive Rp 110,000 monthly through a special debit card that they can use to buy rice at designated e-shops.
