"The 194,418 KPMs in Bali will receive 10 kilograms of rice each month for three months. The first batch will be distributed to 11,570 KPMs in Badung District," said Soni Supriyadi, head of Bulog Bali, in Badung on Thursday.
During the distribution, he noted that this program will be implemented simultaneously in Indonesia, with a total of 21 million KPMs.
For Bali, the rice distribution was originally scheduled to begin in March 2023, but there were some changes in the KPM data, so the distribution took place in early April with two batches.
"The objective of this program is to reduce rice prices. Since the number of CBP recipients is quite large, we will distribute it to all regions to control prices in the market," Supriyadi remarked.
With 21 million KPM across the country, he estimated that Bulog would distribute 210 thousand tons of rice per month or a total of 600 thousand tons of CBP in three months.
Furthermore, he ensured that there were no problems related to the rice availability in Bali until the 2023 Eid al-Fitr on April 21-22.
Currently, Bulog Bali still has 1,800 tons of rice in addition to 200 tons of food aid that will arrive from West Nusa Tenggara (NTB) and 300 tons from East Java.
"Bali cannot meet its own rice needs because we have tourists as well, especially domestic tourists, who also consume rice," he explained.
Regarding the rice that will be distributed, Widiana Putra, Head of Food Security of the Bali Province Agriculture and Food Security Service, stated that the program will also target the cities of Tabanan and Denpasar.
The beneficiary data in the area is said to be complete, where the names of the beneficiaries come from the Ministry of Social Affairs' data that will then be submitted to NFA and Bulog Bali, he revealed.
In Bali Province, the highest number of KPM in this program is in Buleleng District, although the figure still does not cover the number of people in the district, Putra stated.
"Most of them are in Buleleng. We are waiting for their readiness to accept this assistance. There are 47,980 KPMs, but still not much to reduce prices, so the number of recipients is limited," he remarked.
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Translator: Ni Putu Putri M, Resinta S
Editor: Anton Santoso
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