PUTRAJAYA: Ten kilogramme (kg) packs of subsidised local white rice (BPT) will be available for RM26 starting March 1, the Rice and Paddy Regulatory Division director-general Datuk Badrul Hisham Mohd said today.
The rice will be sold to 400,000 low-income heads of households (KIR), including 77,000 extreme poor households, with each household limited to purchasing two packs per transaction.
Badrul Hisham expressed confidence that the supply would be sufficient, noting that the average Malaysian consumes about 77 kg of rice per year. He also stressed that measures are in place to prevent stockpiling and market manipulation.
“My team has established a control mechanism and we will issue a specific directive to retailers to limit purchases,” he said during a press conference on the BPT subsidy scheme.
The subsidised rice will be distributed through 36,000 licensed retailers across the country and will also be available at Agro MADANI and Rahmah sales events. Distribution will focus on low-income urban areas, such as flats and public housing, he said.
The first batch of subsidised rice will be available at an Agro MADANI sale in Kedah this Thursday. Between 10,000 and 20,000 bags of local rice will also be sold during Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim’s visit to the Muda Agricultural Development Authority (MADA) in Alor Setar, he added.
