Jakarta, June 4 -- Agriculture Minister Andi Amran Sulaiman stressed the importance of regulating the distribution of 10-kilogram rice assistance to protect both farmers and consumers, ensuring it does not negatively affect grain prices at the farmer level.

"There is a two-month plan (for providing food assistance). It requires 180 thousand tons of rice per month, so in total, it will be 360 thousand tons. The plan is good, but the distribution method should be managed. We will arrange it," he noted here on Wednesday.

To distribute rice assistance for June and July, Sulaiman remarked that the government will consider regional conditions, including giving priority to non-rice producing areas and regions where prices of the commodity are ...