JOHOR BARU: Angkatan Koperasi Kebangsaan Malaysia Bhd (Angkasa) is being encouraged to get involved in the cultivation of government land lying idle as a way to reduce the import bill.
Entrepreneur Development Minister, Datuk Seri Mohd Redzuan Yusof (pix), said: “We’re welcoming Angkasa’s participation and I think its cooperatives have already approached state governments (to express their interest).
“For example, if one of the small cooperatives wanted to develop a one-acre plot, we could help them through assistance in the form of technical expertise, market opportunities, selling a product with confidence and so on,” he told reporters after launching the Malaysian Carnival of Cooperatives’ Products and Services (Maccops) 2019 in Persada yesterday.
Angkasa president, Datuk Abdul Fattah Abdullah, said the Agriculture and Agro-Based Ministry has in fact asked his organisation to cultivate 4,000ha of land with maize to help cut the RM3 billion spent per year on importing it.
“A project is underway in Kedah on 200 acres (81ha) of land under the state government,” he said. — Bernama
