Malaysia in bid to increase rice production by 5%
PUTRAJAYA: The production rate of local rice will be increased to 75% from the current 70% as Malaysia looks to reduce dependency on imports, said Datuk Salahuddin Ayub.
The Agriculture and Agro-based Industries Minister said Malaysia imported 740,000 tonnes of rice last year, which cost about RM1.18bil.
“The ministry has set a target to increase the production of local rice to 75% within the next three or four years.
“To increase production, we will look into the usage of modern technology such as ‘soil profiling’, and using better variety of fertilisers and such,” said Salahuddin.
Salahuddin added that state governments also have a duty to ensure that enough agricultural lands are gazetted to achieve the target.
“I have raised this matter in the National Land Council meetings. The rights of the land belong to the state governments, so it is up to them to gazette agricultural lands. If not, these lands would decrease.
“Some states have taken the initiative to gazette new lands and we welcome and encourage this,” he said.
On the removal of Padiberas Nasional Bhd’s (Bernas) rice monopoly, Salahuddin said the ministry is not in a hurry as Bernas’ concession is set to end in 2021.
“This issue needs to be looked into realistically. We must find the best model moving forward, and we have gathered feedback from NGOs and industry players.”
Earlier, Salahuddin, in his new year’s address to staff of his ministry at Wisma Tani here, outlined key areas that the ministry is looking to focus on for the year – including increasing agricultural output through modernisation.
Source: TheStar
