Due to the current food shortage, the Perak government is urging residents to grow vegetables and raise livestock for their own consumption. Mentri Besar Datuk Seri Saarani Mohamad stated that this could be one of the initiatives taken to alleviate the burden of rising living costs caused by a spike in the price of agricultural products and livestock meat such as chicken and mutton, with the surplus sold.
“That’s why I’ve been campaigning in different parts of the state on this, so that what we want to eat, we plant or breed the produce ourselves, rather than relying on imports,” said Perak MB.
He told reporters this after attending the Perak State Agriculture Development Corporation (SADCAgrofest )’s program on May 31, 2022 at The Treasure @ Taman Herba Gopeng, where its chief executive officer Yahanis Yahya was also present.
In his earlier speech, Saarani stated that the Perak SADC, in collaboration with the State Agriculture Department, would be developing the Manong Agrotechnology Park project on 40 hectares of land in Kuala Kangsar to increase food security.
This was decided at the April meeting of the Perak SADC board of directors. “The SADC has also launched the Perak Halal Hub project to boost food security and create jobs while assisting the state government in creating economic opportunities for the people,” Saarani explained.
The recent shortage of McDonald’s french fries in Malaysia is symptomatic of a much larger national issue. Many food items are in short supply and are experiencing rapid price increases. After chicken, looks like there will be a short supply of fish too.
According to some analysts, rising prices and shortages are the result of supply chain flaws, natural disasters, and labour shortages. However, the food crisis cannot be viewed solely as a cyclical issue because it involves profound structural issues.
Malaysia imports nearly 60% of its food requirements. As a result, food security is a major concern. Malaysia only produced 46 percent of its vegetables, 70 percent of its rice, 61 percent of its fruits, 25 percent of its beef, 11 percent of its mutton, and 5 percent of its dairy requirements in 2019.
Asyiqin Razak is a content writer under Headliner by Newswav, a programme where content creators get to tell their unique stories through articles and at the same time monetize their content within the Newswav app.
Register at headliner.newswav.com to become one of our content writers now!
Newswav is solely an aggregation platform and hosts the content. The views expressed and content above including media (pictures, videos, etc) were provided by the author. If you have any questions about the content, copyright or other issues of the work, please contact Newswav.
