JAKARTA - The government ensures that the distribution of rice food assistance will continue in 2026. Perum Bulog has been tasked with distributing 720,000 tons of rice assistance to recipients.
For information, rice food assistance is a rice assistance program weighing 10 kilograms (kg) which is given to each recipient family. This program is intended for people who are unable to maintain household food security.
Perum Bulog President Director Ahmad Rizal Ramdhani revealed that the food assistance would be distributed for four months to around 18 million beneficiaries throughout Indonesia.
"The distribution of food assistance for 4 months in 2026 is about 720,000 tons for 18 million recipients," Rizal said in a media briefing on Bulog's Crucial Achievement 2025 and Strategic Steps 2026 at the Bulog Office, South Jakarta, Friday, January 2.
Apart from food assistance, Rizal said Bulog would also continue to distribute cheap rice through the Food Supply and Price Stabilization (SPHP) program with a total assignment of 1.5 million tons in 2026.
Rizal explained that the distribution of SPHP was carried out throughout the year as a stabilization measure for the supply and price of rice in the market. However, the distribution of SPHP rice will be carried out selectively, especially in the rice production center area.
During the peak harvest period, Rizal continued, the volume of distribution will be reduced so as not to interfere with prices at the farmer level.
"Later, during the harvest season, at the peak of the harvest season in March and April, including August, the distribution in the production centers, the distribution of SPHP is reduced, the volume is reduced. But it is still carried out so that it does not spill a lot in the market," he explained.
Meanwhile, Rizal continued, the distribution of SPHP in areas that are not rice production centers will continue to be carried out normally.
"But in areas that are not food production centers, the SPHP is still on track as usual," said Rizal.
The distribution of rice food assistance in 2025 has reached 707,929 tons. The program is only implemented for four months a year.
"Well, specifically for the distribution of food assistance, because the distribution of food assistance is not throughout the year, if I'm not mistaken it's only 4 months," he said.
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