Agriculture sectors to continue operating throughout National Recovery phases

 

The agriculture sectors involving crops, livestock, fisheries and food industries will continue to operate following the standard operating procedures of the National Security Council throughout Phases Two, Three and Four of the National Recovery Plan.

Agriculture and Food Industries Minister Ronald Kiandee said he would ensure that these sectors continue to operate without any disruption during the current movement control order (MCO 3.0) to ensure the continuity of the economic chain and the operators involved.

Until yesterday, the ministry had issued a total of 105,869 letters of permission for involvement in the agriculture sector, including supply chain and marketing activities related to food needs, Ronald said in a statement yesterday.

Earlier, he inspected the operations at PT Swift Marketing Sdn Bhd's swiftlet birds nest processing plant to ensure that its operations for the export market were not disrupted and continued at all times.

On the country's swiftlet birds nest industry, Ronald said until last April, the industry's total exports reached 962 metric tonnes with a value of RM714 million, indicating that exports of this commodity remained strong, especially at a time when the country was still facing the Covid-19 pandemic.

Last year, its total exports were 3,640 tonnes worth RM 1.385 billion and the previous year it was 5,654 tonnes worth RM1.154 billion, he said.

- Bernama