Poor Go Hungry As Rice gathers Dust

JAKARTA, August 18, 2004 (smh.com.au): Matthew Moore, Herald Correspondent in Jakarta, reports – About 1.7 million Indonesians have gone hungry for the past three weeks because a government ban has stopped the distribution of thousands of tonnes of rice donated to feed the country’s poor. Western countries donate the rice to the United Nations World Food Program, which has been selling it to the poorest families since 1998. But this year the program has been caught up in the Government’s ban on imported rice imposed in January to shore up prices obtained by Indonesian farmers.

For the complete story from the Sidney Morning Herald (by way of Tim Williams, CM) visit http://smh.com.au/articles/2004/08/17/1092508475912.html