Manokwari, Jubi – Five regencies in West Papua Province have become the priority areas to be reduced from extreme poverty in 2021.
Indonesia Vice President Ma’ruf Amin said that the poverty reduction program is part of the government’s attempt to reduce extreme poverty to zero by 2024.
“The five priority regencies in West Papua are the Wondama Bay Regency, Bintuni Bay Regency, Tambraw Regency, Maybrat Regency, and South Manokwari Regency,” Amin spoke at the 2021 Extreme Poverty Reduction Coordination Meeting at the West Papua Governor’s office in Manokwari on Thursday, October 14. 2021.
Amin said these five West Papua regencies were chosen to become among the 35 national priority regencies, based not only on the extreme poverty rate but also the number of extremely poor people in the region.
According to Amin, the extreme poverty rate refers to the World Bank and the United Nations definition, which is 1.9 US dollars PPP (purchasing power parity) per capita per day, below the general poverty rate used by the Indonesia Statistics, which is equal to 2.5 US dollars PPP per capita per day.
“In the five regencies in West Papua which become our poverty reduction priorities in 2021, the total number of extremely poor people is 39,357, with a total of 12,440 extremely poor households,” Amin said.
The number comprises Wondama Bay with an extreme poverty rate of 24.08 percent and a population of 7,960 extremely poor people; Bintuni Bay 21.05 percent and 13,760 people; Tambraw 22.40 percent and 3,140 people; Maybrat 22.89 percent and 9,520 people; and South Manokwari 20.97 percent and 5,150 people. (*)
Reporter: Hans Kapisa
Editor: Edho Sinaga
