Raskin rice given to recipients is not of poor quality

16 June 2014

“The price of rice from the subsidised rice for low-income families programme (Raskin) is Rp 1,600 [per kilogram], and it is of medium quality. The government buys rice from Bulog at Rp 8,300 [per kg], meaning that the government subsidises the cost of Raskin rice by Rp 6,700 [per kg]. That's why it needs to be emphasised and understood that Raskin rice given is of medium and not low quality,” said DR. Safri Burhanuddin, Deputy Assistant of Social Compensation at the Coordinating Ministry of People's Welfare at a Raskin media brieing, held on 12 June at the Aryaduta Hotel, Makassar.

TNP2K’s Imelda Leiwakabessy confirmed the price of Raskin rice at Rp 1,600 per kg from the distribution points. If the price is more, than this has to be reported.

"If there are problems with Raskin, including inaccuracies in the amount received, these must be reported either through the online complaints page or by sending an SMS to 1708," she said.

Meanwhile, Kasubdit for Extraction and Development Potential, Directorate of Remote Indigenous Community Empowerment at the Ministry of Social Affairs, Dra. Ani Iriani Freeyanti, M.Si, said that Raskin is not to be divided equally. Dividing Raskin rice evenly among those who do not have a KPS card or Certificate of Poor Households (SKRTM) for Target Households (RTS) is wrong, because it violates the programme rules and will not achieve the programme objectives or reduce poverty.

"Raskin is a subsided rice programme for poor and vulnerable households. This programme is a government effort to, among others, improve food security among targeted households,” she said.

Through this event, it is expected that improvements will be seen to the Raskin programme, namely in six main areas: correct target, correct quantity, correct quality, correct price, correct time and correct administration, all of which can be achieved by using the KPS card.

Tommy Sikado, Kadivre of Bulog South Sulawesi explain that a total of 15.5 million households were targeted for 2014 Raskin, including 44,217 in Makassar and 484,617 in South Sulawesi. Sikado noted that South Sulawesi has a distribution rate of 97.4 percent.