Speaking at the Presidential Palace complex in Jakarta on Thursday, he informed that the assistance will be provided to them at the request of President Joko Widodo, in addition to 21.3 million beneficiary families who will also receive rice assistance from September to November.
He explained that under the food assistance program, families at risk of stunting will receive 1 kilogram of chicken meat and 16 eggs.
The assistance will be distributed in eight provinces and will target 1.4 million families at risk of stunting based on data provided by the National Population and Family Planning Agency (BKKBN), he added.
Related news: Jokowi orders distribution of rice aid to 21.3 mln families
Meanwhile, separate rice assistance, where each beneficiary family will receive 10 kilograms of rice, will be distributed simultaneously starting from September 1.
Currently, the government's rice reserves range from 1.5 million tons to 1.6 million tons, which is sufficient to provide 10 kilograms of rice to 21.3 million beneficiary families per month, or a total of 210 thousand tons of rice per month.
President Widodo's decision to provide rice assistance aims to control inflation caused by rising rice prices, which contributed 0.38 percentage points to the inflation rate in July.
Reducing stunting is a top priority program of the Indonesian government, with the goal of decreasing stunting prevalence to 14 percent by 2024.
Indonesia's stunting prevalence decreased by 2.8 percentage points to 21.6 percent in 2022 from 24.4 percent in 2021, according to the 2022 Indonesian Nutritional Status Survey (SSGI).
Related news: Pos Indonesia says distributing stunting aid more challenging
Related news: Prevent stunting from the first thousand days of life: BKKBN
Translator: Mentari Dwi, Raka Adji
Editor: Anton Santoso
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