Under the plan the government will sell 25-kilogram bags of rice for $11 to families in Viqueque, Baucau and Lautem.

A 25-kilogram bag of rice in Timor-Leste has increased from $12 in 2018, to up to $18.

Agusto Junior Trindade, the Director of the National Logistics Centre, said rice prices had increased by 20-50 per cent across Timor-Leste on the back of low local supply volume.

Trindade said 626 tonnes of rice had been imported from Vietnam to increase supply.

Trinidad said farmers seeking to buy the subsidised rice should contact their village chief.

In 2017 and 2018 the level of imported cereals reached the record high level of 190,000 tonnes in Timor-Leste, according to the Food and Agricultural Organisation (FAO) of the United Nations.

Timor-Leste remains heavily dependent on imported cereals to meets its consumption needs.