Thursday, 12 November 2026
MEDAN | INDATANEWS.COM - The Deli Serdang Regency Government is committed to reviewing and updating social assistance recipient records to ensure that government aid reaches those who genuinely need it. The issue was highlighted by Deli Serdang Regent Asri Ludin Tambunan when he accompanied Coordinating Minister for Food Affairs Zulkifli Hasan during a rice assistance distribution programme in Medan on Monday, 9 November 2026.
Asri Ludin stressed that accurate recipient records were essential to ensuring that government assistance achieved its intended purpose. Authorities, he said, must establish whether registered recipients meet the eligibility criteria based on their actual economic circumstances and living conditions.During the event, Asri Ludin revealed that he had received reports of residents who were relatively well-off financially but remained listed as recipients of government assistance. Such cases, he said, demonstrated the need for regular assessments and data updates to prevent errors in identifying eligible households.
He called for the verification process to consider not only administrative records but also people's actual circumstances on the ground. This approach is expected to minimise targeting errors and ensure that low-income households do not lose access to assistance to which they are entitled.Asri Ludin emphasised the need to strengthen coordination between central and local government. Local authorities maintain closer contact with residents and are therefore better placed to identify changes in household economic conditions and report possible discrepancies in recipient lists.
Public participation is also essential to the correction process. Residents who identify inaccurate information can report it to the relevant authorities so that officials can conduct further checks. This mechanism is expected to make data updates more transparent and ensure that official records reflect actual conditions within communities.In Deli Serdang Regency, a total of 175,052 families are registered to receive rice assistance for the October to December 2026 period. Each family will receive a total of 30 kilogrammes of rice to support its food requirements over three months.
The figure illustrates the extensive reach of the government's food assistance programme. It also highlights why recipient lists must be carefully reviewed to ensure that available support benefits families who genuinely need it.
Responding to the Regent's concerns, Coordinating Minister for Food Affairs Zulkifli Hasan said the government was prepared to correct recipient records whenever discrepancies emerged.
He urged local authorities and members of the public to report cases in which individuals remained registered for assistance despite having financial circumstances that did not correspond to their assigned welfare category. He said data collected by the central government needed to be updated in line with developments and actual conditions in the regions."Earlier, the Regent mentioned that there were people in decile 1 who owned cars. If anything is wrong, please report it so that we can correct the data. After all, these are records collected by people at the central level, and they cannot see everything themselves," Zulkifli said.
His remarks underline the importance of local government involvement in helping central authorities improve the database used for assistance programmes. Regional administrations can provide additional information about residents whose circumstances may not have been reflected in previous data collection exercises.Zulkifli also stressed that the government needed to take public feedback into account to improve the accuracy of assistance distribution. Correcting recipient records, he said, should not merely resolve administrative errors but also help ensure that social protection policies are implemented more fairly.
Zulkifli Hasan said the government was providing rice assistance to 33.2 million families classified within deciles 1 to 4. The programme forms part of broader efforts to protect household purchasing power, particularly among lower-income communities that are more vulnerable to increases in the prices of essential goods.
In North Sumatra, the government is also making one million tonnes of rice available under the Food Supply and Price Stabilisation programme, known as SPHP, at Rp13,100 per kilogramme. The initiative aims to maintain rice availability while helping to control prices for consumers.The government is also releasing 380,000 tonnes of rice at Rp11,000 per kilogramme to meet the raw material requirements of food producers, including cake and rice vermicelli manufacturers. The measure is expected to help businesses manage production costs and maintain their operations without facing excessive pressure from rising ingredient prices.
Support also extends to the poultry sector. The government is preparing between 100,000 and 150,000 tonnes of maize at Rp5,500 per kilogramme for chicken farmers. The initiative is intended to reduce feed costs, which account for a significant proportion of poultry production expenses.These measures demonstrate that the government's food security strategy extends beyond ensuring an adequate supply of rice for household consumption. It also seeks to maintain stable supply chains for food production materials and animal feed, preventing rising costs in one sector from placing additional pressure on prices elsewhere.
For households, stable rice and food prices have a direct impact on their ability to meet everyday needs. Meanwhile, affordable raw materials and animal feed are essential to the sustainability of small food businesses and poultry farming operations that contribute to the country's food supply.Through improved recipient records and measures to stabilise food supplies, the government hopes to ensure that assistance reaches the right households while keeping essential food prices under control. Close cooperation between central government, local administrations and the public will remain crucial to ensuring that these policies respond to actual needs on the ground. (IDNC)
REPORTER: Edi Saputra | EDITOR: Fik Sagala
