Jenny Grant, Jakarta – President Suharto's youngest son is putting US$60,000 into a corn growing scheme in eastern Indonesia in the first family's latest project to alleviate the monetary crisis.

Hutomo Mandala Putra, estimated to be worth about US$600 million, is sponsoring a scheme for farmers in East Nusa Tenggara to grow corn, cassava and soya beans.

He has denied suggestions he wants to monopolise the sale and distribution of the crops produced. "Farmers will be free to sell their crops to anyone... our only intention is to improve farmers' living conditions with a well-prepared plan," Mr Mandala Putra told the Jakarta Post.

Rural Indonesians are turning to corn and some root crops as an alternative to rice which is harder to grow in dry weather – Indonesia is suffering drought.

Mr Mandala Putra's eldest sister, Social Welfare Minister Siti Hardiyanti Rukmana, has collected 6.5 billion rupiah in a national anti-poverty drive. Ms Rukmana is using the money to buy food coupons for the unemployed and low income earners in a series of high profile projects.

Most of the money has been garnered from large corporations and ethnic Chinese conglomerates. The funds are being channelled directly to the Social Welfare Ministry.

The poverty alleviation programmes spearheaded by the first family appear designed to win sympathy for the highly unpopular children whose businesses include media, banking, construction, transport and telecommunications.

But Mr Mandala Putra denied there was an ulterior motive to the charity. He said his mother, the late Ibu Tien Suharto, urged him to help eastern Indonesia, the poorest part of the country, after a tidal wave struck Flores in 1992.

Mr Mandala Putra, who palace watchers say is his father's favourite son, lost his lucrative clove monopoly in reforms demanded by an International Monetary Fund US$43 billion aid deal.