WFP blames NGO for distributing bad rice

JAKARTA (JP): The World Food Program (WFP) blamed a non- governmental organization (NGO), Pangan for the Poor (Param), on Monday for distributing poor quality rice over the past few months.

"Unlike other NGOs, Param didn't check the quality of rice before distributing it to low-income residents. All NGOs must check the rice a week before distribution to avoid such cases," a WFP representative in Indonesia, Philip J. Clarke, told reporters at a media briefing.

He was responding to Param's allegation last Tuesday that WFP provided bad quality rice for low-income residents and that the Jakarta Logistics Agency (Dolog) sold the rice aid to flour mills.

"I am sorry that Param told the public that State Logistics Agency (Bulog) had sold WFP's rice. Perhaps it (Param) has a political motive behind its statement," he said. "It was pure and simple misinformation."

Clarke said WFP gave the rice to Bulog warehouses in Jakarta and Surabaya in a swap arrangement.

"The rice was from donor countries. It was medium quality, 25 percent of which contained rice fragments," he said.

"It was the Provincial Logistics Agencies (Dolog) which distributed the rice to beneficiaries across the country. The rice was taken from the local Dolog warehouses."

"This way, we could speed up distribution rather than shipping the rice, which was stored in Jakarta and Surabaya, to the provincial agencies," he added.

He said the agency could sell the rice aid as a result of the swap arrangement.

"The rice belongs to the agency as long as it can provide the same quality to low-income residents as requested by WFP. Except for giving or selling the rice to the military, it can be sold or used at their disposal," he said.

"Param has distributed rice to 160,000 households out of 2.9 million beneficiaries in Greater Jakarta, Bandung, Semarang and Surabaya. The low quality rice was a small percentage as we did not have problems with the other 13 NGOs cooperating with us in the distribution," he added.

There were 5.2 million beneficiaries nationwide, 400,000 of which live in the Greater Jakarta area, he said.

He added that WFP allocated 200,000 tons of rice for Indonesia and had so far distributed 152,000 tons, with 8,000 tons distributed per month.

Clarke disclosed a plan to request the continuation of its operation in Indonesia for another 18 months at February's WFP meeting in Rome.

"The next distribution will provide 171,000 tons of rice for 2.4 million beneficiaries throughout the country," he said.

Another WFP executive, Bishow B. Parajuli, said the organization called Param four times to resolve the problem.

"It's a pity that they didn't respond to our calls," he said.

He dismissed the possibility that the agency's warehouses were unsuitable to store rice.

"Speaking from technical and management points of view, the agency's warehouses are among the best in the world," he said.

An executive of Bulog, Masdulhaq Yumm, said the agency had to provide better quality rice should the medium quality from WFP no longer be available.

"We have booked losses with this arrangement. Nevertheless, it's part of our obligation," he said, without providing data on the exact amount of losses. (05)