COMPANIES that repeatedly fail to deliver fertiliser to paddy farmers risk having their contracts cancelled, Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim warned today as he ordered the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) to review delays affecting farmers in the Muda Agricultural Development Authority (MADA) area.
Anwar said the review into the delayed distribution of additional compound fertiliser, known as Baja 3, was needed to establish the cause of the delays and determine whether any leakage had occurred.
“I do not know which company, I said if this company repeatedly makes mistakes, cancel (the contract) and take a new company. Do not make paddy farmers and farmers the victims.
“Take action. If they are to be charged, let MACC come in. I have already asked MACC to come in and review this process,” he said.
He said the Government must establish which company had been entrusted with the supply, whether it had fulfilled its obligations and why action had not been taken if it had failed to do so.
“I want to mention the distribution of fertiliser in Kedah. We saw delays, once again making paddy farmers the victims. They rose in anger and I received their memorandum of protest.
“So, we have to find out what the cause was, which company was entrusted with it, whether they fulfilled their promise or not, and if they did not fulfil it, why was no action taken against them?” he said.
Anwar said he had received a memorandum from farmer representatives and wanted the issue resolved to prevent similar delays from recurring.
He was speaking at the closing ceremony of MAHA 2026 at the Malaysia Agro Exposition Park Serdang (MAEPS) today.
Last month, reports said about 40,000 of the 60,000 paddy farmers in the MADA area were at risk of being affected as they had yet to receive the additional fertiliser.
Earlier, Agriculture and Food Security Minister Datuk Seri Mohamad Sabu said the Government had terminated the services of a company responsible for supplying the fertiliser following the delays.
He said the issue was expected to be resolved after the remaining supplies were distributed by MADA to farmers within 10 days.
Meanwhile, MAHA 2026 attracted 4,296,662 visitors over its 10-day run, including 1.72 million youths, while direct sales reached RM66.88 million.
Mohamad said the exhibition also brought together about 2,000 local and international exhibitors and generated memoranda of understanding involving strategic collaborations and prospective investments worth about RM10.35 billion.
He said the event was in line with the Government’s efforts to strengthen the agri-food sector and reduce dependence on imports.
Mohamad said Malaysia’s agri-food trade deficit fell by RM5.4 billion, or 13.8 per cent, in 2025 compared with the previous year, while the deficit declined a further 26.4 per cent in the first five months of this year.
“In 2025, export value increased by 8.1 per cent to RM58.8 billion, while import value fell by 1.1 per cent to RM92.7 billion.
“For example, pineapple exports recorded an increase of up to threefold compared with three years ago,” he said. - September 6, 2026
