Kota Kinabalu: There is no need to set a price cap for selling price of local rice in Sabah, Sarawak and Labuan, said Federal Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Food Security Datuk Chan Foong Hin.
He said the government does not want to implement such move because it wants to encourage local paddy farmers to earn more from its production of the local white rice.
“I think that was a proposal (by Datuk Armizan Mohd Ali) well before the introduction of subsidies for the imported rice for Sabah, Sarawak and Labuan.
“When Datuk Armizan made that statement (several months ago), it was during a situation where only the Semenanjung have price cap for the local white rice while in Sabah, Sarawak and Labuan, they don’t have the price cap for the local white rice and also for the imported rice.