PADANG BESAR – The Agriculture and Food Industries Ministry is aiming to reduce livestock feed imports by 30% by the year 2030 through its Grain Corn Industry Development Project.
Ministry deputy secretary-general (development) Datuk Badrul Hisham Mohd said Malaysia presently imports about four million metric tonnes of grain corn valued at about RM6.2 billion a year.
For the ministry to achieve the target, he said, a large area of land is needed to plant corn, which is seen to be a new source of wealth for industry players in the country.
“Right now we are working to bring together major commodity industry players to be equally involved in this crop.
“We are also discussing with palm oil industry players so that they can allocate 10% of their land to plant maize,” he said after conducting a walkabout in Lembah Chuping here today.
Badrul Hisham said that the government needs to find a new formula to overcome the country’s high dependence on grain maize imports.
“The government cannot be alone in this, which is why we need to bring industry players together to be involved in the cultivation of grain maize,” he said.
He added that efforts to reduce dependence on grain maize imports had started in 2015, and would take at least 15 years through three phases of implementation.
According to Badrul Hisham, the necessary research and studies with stakeholders to stabilise the industry take a long time.
“We are now at the end of the five-year pilot phase from 2015 to 2022. After that, we will move to the consolidation and expansion phase.
“During this period, we will evaluate various aspects that need to be considered, including cultivation methods, appropriate use of seeds, the weather, quality control, and others,” he said.
He said the people would benefit, reducing spending on subsidies if the government manages to resolve the issue of livestock feed supplies. – Bernama, May 11, 2022
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