A total of 6,000 MT of rice imported from Vietnam is expected to arrive in West Sumatra in May 2007. The imported rice would add the rice stock of the province and would be distributed to among others the poor and disaster`s victims. Up to April 2007, the local Bulog warehouse kept a total of 9,000 tons of rice, which 3,000 tons of them would be allocated for the poor monthly.

To deal with a rice shortage, the Indonesian government has set a target of producing 58.1 million tons of (unhusked) rice this year, and set itself to import another one million MT annually to assure the availability of stocks.