M’sia to be an agricultural country again - National Rehabilitation Council
PUTRAJAYA - The National Rehabilitation Council (MPN) has agreed for Malaysia to return to being an agricultural nation.
Its chairman Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin said the move would reduce the country's dependency on food imports.
"The MPN is also discussed on the guarantee of food security so that Malaysia will not face difficulty when there is a need for basic food supply," he said at a press conference after chairing the MPN meeting.
Muhyiddin said in the Global Food Safety Index last year, the country was on the 39th place, an increase of nine spots compared to 2020 with eight main stable commodities.
"The Ministry of Agriculture and Food Industry (MAFI) is also conducting consumer, producer and trade-oriented interventions to strengthen the country's food security," he said.
He said among others were creating chicken stockpile, reviewing the import procedures of the Malaysian Quarantine and Inspection Services Department (MAQIS) and reviewing the electricity rate for the agricultural sector.
"The council is of the view that there is an urgent need to strengthen the feed input industry so that the country achieves self-sufficiency, and the cost of feed input is managed and not affected by external factors," he said.
Muhyiddin said the proposal (to return as agricultural country) should be considered by the government so that the country did not continue to be utterly dependent on importing livestock feed from abroad.
"I was told by MAFI Minister Datuk Seri Ronald Kiandee that almost 500 million coconuts are imported while we have (our own) coconut plantations. The industry needs to be redeveloped because coconuts are on the rise.
"In the livestock sector, milk production can be increased, and even our chicken supply has been produced up to 200 per cent," he said.
