KUALA LUMPUR – The Auditor-General’s Report for the Year 2021 Series 2 has found that although 78% of projects under the Food Security Fund Programme of the Prihatin Rakyat Economic Stimulus Package (Prihatin) were successfully completed, the programme did not achieve its set objectives.
According to the report, the projects under the programme with an allocation of RM190 million could not be fully achieved as a portion of the 1,248 projects were still in the implementation phase or had not started until the end of 2021, affecting the revenue production target.
The report said that procurement management and the use of less-than-satisfactory equipment also deprived the target group of fully benefiting from the programme.
The audit involved four agencies under the Agriculture and Food Industry Ministry, namely the Federal Agricultural Marketing Authority, Farmers’ Organisation Authority, Malaysian Pineapple Industry Board, and Malaysian Fisheries Development Authority.
The report also found that all the agencies did not achieve the targets for the production and receipt of incentives set during the Covid-19 pandemic period.
“In general, the achievement of the objectives of the Food Security Fund Programme under Prihatin, which is to ensure that the food supply remains secure and sufficient during the pandemic period, is difficult to determine,” the report stated.
“This is because the contribution of production under this programme is very small and insignificant to domestic production,” according to the report.
The report recommended that the Agriculture and Food Industry Ministry monitor the implementation of the projects at all levels and ensure that the equipment supplied was used optimally.
The ministry and its agencies were also advised to set indicators to evaluate the achievement of the programme’s objectives, including those implemented on an ad-hoc basis. – Bernama, February 16, 2023
