KOTA KINABALU – The government must take drastic and immediate action to solve the price hike in chicken and fish, said Shahrizal Denci.
In his Facebook post yesterday, the Muda vice-president raised the question of where the public can get affordable meat and protein if the prices of chicken and fish are beyond their means due to the sharp price hike.
“What is the use of a high gross domestic record if the rakyat lack nutrition? Food security is viral. I call on the Agriculture and Food Industries Ministry to take drastic action on this unexpected situation,” he said.
He said the current situation is urgent as chicken breeders are unable to meet the demand for chicken meat due to diseases killing their fowl, coupled with the rising prices of feed.
The youth leader pointed out that seeing that seafood, even fish, is already an expensive item, the general public can opt for chicken as a source of protein.
“If both are expensive, what are the people’s sources of protein?” he questioned.
Shahrizal, who is also a vegetable farmer in Ranau, said while the abolishment of Approved Permits is only a temporary solution, a sustainable solution to the problem is to develop the production of animal feed domestically.
He noted that Malaysia has all the raw materials to produce animal feed and asked why the nation is not exporting the feed, but instead is importing the product from other countries where it is more expensive.
He also questioned why there are no downstream activities such as developing factories to produce or package the animal feed.
For a short-term solution, he said, the government must provide subsidies, especially on animal feed immediately.
“For a long-term solution, the government should provide incentives for chicken breeders, agricultural entrepreneurs, and fishermen to be exempted from tax; providing special subsidies and so on so that more youth will be interested in this sector,” he said.
The Vibes previously reported that the prices of chicken along with other essential goods in Sabah have been increasing since last year. – The Vibes, May 22, 2022
