BELURAN – It’s a challenging time for the country’s agriculture sector due to the global price increase of pesticides, fertilisers, and animal feed.
Agriculture and Food Industries Minister Datuk Seri Ronald Kiandee said the country has been greatly affected by market forces as it is highly dependent on imported pesticides and fertilisers.
“The government understands the struggles of farmers in which they have to increase the price of their crops sold to consumers, resulting in the increase of vegetable prices nationwide.
“As announced by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob, funds are being provided to ease the burden of farmers by increasing the government subsidy for pesticides (in paddy planting) and providing soft loans to farmers with zero interest and six months moratorium; all amounting to an allocation of RM62 million,” he said.
Ronald was met by reporters after the Sabah Electricity Sdn Bhd’s Ceria ke Sekolah corporate social responsibility programme here today.
However, Ronald admitted that these efforts will not solve the problem of price hikes of imported components needed in the agriculture sector.
“That is why, the government decided to take the next step – easing the burden and production costs for farmers.
“We are facing a very challenging time due to this issue, and it is affecting not only Sabah, Malaysia, but the whole world,” he said.
Yesterday, The Vibes reported that Sabah farmer Sharizal Denci said the prices of vegetables have increased threefold since two months ago and the Agriculture and Food Industries Ministry did not have the conclusive date to solve problems faced on the ground.
This is after the ministry established a special cross-ministerial committee with the Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs Ministry on November 10 in the effort to stabilise the price of pesticides and fertilisers in the country.
On the same day, the committee had a meeting with other ministries including the International Trade and Industry Ministry, Finance Ministry, Plantation Industries and Commodities Ministry, and representatives from farmers associations in the country.
While the meeting had resulted in several solutions which were brought up in the November 12 cabinet meeting, none has been revealed to the public to date.
Based on the prime minister’s announcement last Friday and Ronald’s answers today, the government is only helping vegetable farmers by offering soft loans through Tekun Nasional and Agrobank. – The Vibes, November 28, 2021
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