Indonesia Prepares Two Million Tonnes of Rice Distribution Ahead of Year-End Holidays
One million tonnes of subsidized SPHP rice and one million tonnes of free food aid for 33.2 million households will run in parallel from October to December.
The Indonesian government is running two large-scale rice distribution programmes in parallel ahead of the year-end holiday season. Coordinating Minister for Food Zulfikar Hasan said one million tonnes of moderately priced rice (SPHP) will be sold at Rp12,500 per kilogram, backed by a government subsidy of Rp2,500 per kilogram, while a separate programme provides one million tonnes of free food aid to 33.2 million households in the lowest four expenditure deciles from October to December.
Distribution is being widened through non-Bulog channels. Bulog's Magelang branch is working with 252 village cooperative storage points across five districts to supply subsidised rice, and the North Sulawesi branch has formed a dedicated task force to monitor distribution from stock availability through the point of sale. Bulog's Medan branch has also received 22,000 tonnes of rice transferred from other provinces.
Under the aid programme, each recipient household receives 10 kilograms of rice, with accumulations of up to 30 kilograms applied for eligible households. The government has not published consolidated distribution figures for the programmes to date.