18.27 Million Families Will Receive Rice Food Assistance This Month

Jakarta: The government has confirmed that rice food assistance, which is also one of the economic stimulus packages to maintain the economy in the second quarter, will begin to be distributed in July in one shot or two-month allocation in one shipment.

"Rice food assistance can be released if there is an assignment. Well, this assignment is through a coordination meeting or special coordination meeting and there needs to be an ABT (Additional Budget). So indeed, this time, rice food assistance will take time," said the Head of the National Food Agency (Bapanas) Arief Prasetyo Adi, quoted from a press release received on Wednesday, July 2, 2025.

"The budget for that is not yet at the National Food Agency, but at BA BUN (State Treasury Budget Section) and it was confirmed today, the ABT is already there, so we can implement rice food assistance immediately. So starting this July and immediately one shot, 2 times 10 kilos of rice to various regions, especially eastern Indonesia," added Arief.

It is known that the 2025 rice food assistance uses a recipient database from the National Single Social and Economic Data. The number of recipients is targeted to reach 18,277,083 Beneficiary Families (KPM) with an estimated ABT needed of around IDR 4.9 trillion.

"So why does it take time for this ABT? This is because we follow the procedure. According to the BPK (Supreme Audit Agency), when we issue a program, there must be a budget first. So the budget comes in first, then it can be distributed," said Arief.

Reduce rice inflation

In the latest release from the Central Statistics Agency (BPS), rice was determined to be the main commodity contributing to June 2025 inflation on a monthly basis from the food, beverage, and tobacco group. It was reported that rice recorded an inflation rate of 1.00 percent with an inflation contribution of 0.04 percent.

The government's intervention through rice food assistance is considered to have contributed significantly to controlling rice inflation. In 2024, for example, rice inflation peaked in February with a score of 5.32 percent. After the rice food aid was disbursed with a nine-month allocation, rice inflation in December 2024 decreased to 0.1 percent.

"In 2025, the big harvest will be in March and April, where total rice production reaches 10 million tons. Once May, June, the harvest starts to decline. This is the pattern. So if it's rice, when production drops, the price will go up. If the price of rice goes up, the price of rice goes up. Now is the time for the government to intervene, one of which is food aid to 18.27 million KPM, as well as economic stimulus," said Arief.

Arief said the government also continues to be committed to consistently maintaining farmer prices. He explained that the price of rice for farmers must remain reasonable and good, he also reminded that there should be no drastic decline when rice food aid is disbursed widely.

"We want a reasonable price. If the price of rice is too low, the farmers will be affected too. So there must be a reasonable price for unhusked rice, a reasonable price for rice at the mill, and a reasonable price for rice for consumers. Don't make it too low upstream, including don't make it too low downstream, because the purchasing power of 280 million Indonesians must also be green," said Arief.