PONTIAN: The Agriculture and Food Security Ministry (KPKM) guarantees that the rice supply in local markets will not be affected despite the flood situation in Kedah and Perlis, impacting approximately 6,000 hectares of the country’s padi production areas.
Its minister, Datuk Seri Mohamad Sabu said as a measure to ensure food security, the country has signed agreements with several rice-producing countries, including India and Pakistan, for import purposes to ensure a sufficient rice supply in the country.
“Recently when the Prime Minister (Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim) visited India, we were offered an additional 200,000 tonnes of rice. Pakistan also offered white rice,“ he said.
Mohamad said this to reporters after officiating the Santuni MADANI programme and groundbreaking ceremony for the Kampung Parit Jerman Agrotourism site here today.
He said besides India and Pakistan, Malaysia also imports rice from Thailand and Vietnam.
“The ones we already import from Thailand and Vietnam will always be available, but the prices fluctuate based on the market,” he said.
“We expect the price of imported rice to decrease slightly as our currency is strengthening.”
The floods that hit the rice bowl areas in Kedah and Perlis are expected to result in losses amounting to RM40 million to the farmers.
Meanwhile, Mohamad said there is a big potential for the national pineapple agriculture sector based on the high export demand for the commodity.
He also said that currently the country can only supply 800 containers or 17,600 tonnes of pineapples for the export market compared to a demand of 4,000 containers or 88,000 tonnes.
“We hope that pineapples will become like (export demand for) durians…we need to work hard to elevate the pineapple industry,“ he added.
The Santuni MADANI programme in Kampung Parit Jerman aims to introduce and promote the village as an agro-tourism destination based on the pineapple industry.
