PUTRAJAYA JUNE 9: Food commodities namely chicken, beef/buffalo meat, eggs, fresh milk, fish, fruits, vegetables and rice are still sufficient in supply to accommodate the domestic needs.
Minister of Agriculture and Food Industry, Datuk Seri Dr. Ronald Kiandee said, the supply of chicken has shown a decreasing trend and is lower compared to the monthly needs starting February 2022.
However, Ronald said, the supply of chicken is slowly recovering and is expected to stabilise beginning June 2022.
“The Cabinet Meeting yesterday had agreed on several short term proactive measures to address the supply and prices of food issues and ensures that the supply of chickens remain guaranteed,” Ronald said in a statement today.
Among the measures taken include: 1) the implementation of chicken stockpile to address the shortage of chicken supply in the market via the Farmers Association Board (LPP) involving Farmers’ Associations as a federation and will start immediately, 2) to make the process of payment for chicken price subsidy claims easier by allowing the advance payment to the claims especially small and medium breeders involving RM157.53 million to be implemented the soonest, 3) to simplify the import procedure (IP) at the Malaysian Department of Quarantine and Inspection (MAQIS) on four commodities namely soya, wheat, corn and livestock food with animal base and plant through the postponement of the permit fee and to form the priority lane for the quick process until the supply of chicken returns stable.
The other measures include 4) to speed up the requirement process for import license under DVS via the interim approval effective 1st July 2022 with the approval process within seven working days compared to 30 to 90 days and will benefit 380 importer of livestock food commodity companies 5) to implement the review on the electricity tariffs on agro food sector to reduce the operational costs of the food producer 6) to grant special exemption on the hiring of foreign workers in the chicken rearing industry following the requirements as to enable the rearing of chicken activities to reach the optimum level 7) to study the reduction cost mechanisms of crude palm oil for the feed mill operators that have been identified to reduce the cost of livestock food.
The Minister also stressed that subsequently the Technical Committee Addressing the Security of National Food Supply will meet on weekly basis to monitor the status of the main food commodity and to identify the issue and find ways to solve the problem in the short, medium and long term on the national food security.
“A Food Security Policy Cluster has been formed that is Strategic Communication Cluster under the Cabinet Committee on the National Food Security Policy (FSCC) to ensure the people gets the message and information on the national food security continuously and effectively,” Ronald said. –Malaysia World News
