The Agriculture and Agro-Based Industries Ministry has been urged to suspend the Super Tempatan (ST) 15 rice subsidy programme as it did not reach the target group.

Public Accounts Committee (PAC) chairperson Nur Jazlan Mohamed said the rice subsidy programme can be continued when the ministry created a new standard operating procedure (SOP) to ensure that the target group benefits from it.

“The PAC found the ST 15 rice subsidy programme to be unsatisfactory,” he told reporters after chairing the PAC meeting in Parliament House today.

The ministry had received a subsidy of RM528 billion to be distributed to 895 rice wholesalers nationwide since the rice subsidy programme was introduced eight years ago.

Nur Jazlan said the ST15 quota for peninsula was 40,000 tonnes per month while Sabah and Sarawak were allocated 20,000 tonnes.

“There was no monitoring to ensure that the rice distributed to hypermarkets was sold to the low income group.”

This measure was necessary to ensure supplies in the market was always adequate for the low income group.

- Bernama