KOTA KINABALU – The Agriculture and Food Industry Ministry will amend the Federal Agriculture Marketing Authority Act 1965 (Act 141) to give authority to the Federal Agriculture Marketing Authority (Fama) to market livestock commodities within the country.
Its minister Datuk Seri Ronald Kiandee said that amendments will be submitted in the next parliamentary sitting, where it will widen the Fama’s scope in commodity marketing.
Currently, Section 1A of Act 141 only allows Fama to handle agricultural produce that does not include livestock.
“Fama will take the role of marketing livestock commodities and stabilise the supply chain to ensure constant supply of livestock in the market, given that there is no specific agency handling livestock marketing now,” he said at a press conference.
Earlier, he was inspecting the construction of the Sabah Fruits Processing Centre at the statutory body’s Sabah office today.
He also announced that the centre is expected to be completed in August next year, adding that it will be able to process around 21,000 metric tonnes of fruits.
By 2025, the centre will be able to process 1,500 metric tonnes of durian, 288 metric tonnes of coconuts, 240 metric tonnes of MD2 pineapples, and 960 metric tonnes of cabbage for local market and export.
Kiandee said the centre is part of the Fama@KKIP Complex Development Plan (2021-2025) involving an allocation of RM5 million.
“The centre will provide facilities for our target group to market their crops to avoid oversupply of crop yields. It will also process fruits to become frozen and minimum-processed products,” he said.
The development of the Fama Complex is part of the ministry’s effort to create a marketing chain that is complete and more organised for agricultural entrepreneurs.
To date, Fama has created 12 frozen fruit processing centres and four food processing centres nationwide.
On another note, to ensure smooth agricultural marketing activities during the movement control order, Sabah Fama has created a Crisis Management Centre that operates from 8am to 7pm daily.
Those with relevant inquiries can reach the centre via email or through its hotlines at 013-524 1470/016-820 4574/019-808 7342. –The Vibes, Aug 7, 2021
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