KUALA LUMPUR: The Agriculture and Food Security Ministry (KPKM) is in the final stages of discussions to finalise the diesel subsidies for rice industry service providers.
Its minister, Datuk Seri Mohamad Sabu said the final discussion involved the Domestic Trade and Cost of Living Ministry and the Finance Ministry to ensure service providers in tillage, transport and other equipment will receive the subsidy.
“I’m confident that when the diesel aid is provided to service providers, then tillage and other costs will drop. To ensure the drop occurs, KPKM can tighten regulations and enforcement,” he posted on Facebook today.
He also explained that targeted subsidies to industry service providers took time as most machinery, vehicles and equipment used did not have complete documentation and were only used during certain periods.
“For instance, harvesters are only used during harvests, while private water pumps are used to fill up fields and not all the time. So the amount of usage needs to be studied in detail before the type and total aid can be determined,” he said.
Mohamad also touched on the readjustment of floor prices, warehouse prices and the price of rice had to be done carefully to avoid negative impact in the future.
“For instance, if the price of imported rice dropped to its lowest such as RM2,000 per ton, what’s the impact if local rice prices are at RM3,600 per ton? It’s possible that local rice will not be purchased by manufacturers and consumers won’t be interested. At that time, farmers will feel the pinch again,” he said, as he expressed his hope that farmers would continue to dedicate their efforts in the rice industry.
“We don’t want what has happened to vegetable crops that was said to be loss-making, but now is dominated by ‘pendatang’ who are reaping the profits now,” he added.
