The government is developing a strategy to lessen Malaysia's dependence on imports for raw food items, said Economy Minister Rafizi Ramli, and expects to launch several pilot projects soon.
They include agricultural projects that would come packaged with their value chain, aimed at ensuring the sustainability of local growers.
Speaking at a press conference in Putrajaya today, Rafizi said the strategy involved multiple agencies, including the Finance Ministry, Economy Ministry and Agriculture and Food Security Ministry.
"We are developing a new strategy that involves the food chain in the country. The plan is to diversify our sources internally so that we can replace the imported items.
"There is a quick win solution, and inshaAllah, we will announce these projects soon," he said.
According to the minister, the country imports between RM60 billion and RM70 billion worth of food items a year, and the government is looking at several types of imported crops that can be harvested in the country.
Chilli, he said, which was hugely imported from Vietnam, would be one of the focuses.
"But we are not only looking at getting the people to grow chilli here. Because it would be hard for local growers to compete with the price of imported products.
"We also want to make sure that the market would take the locally-grown chillies. This requires cooperation from the industry players.
"The demand must be there for at least one or two years, and at acceptable prices. We don’t want the suppliers to only buy from local growers when the price of imported chilli is high but stops when it comes down," Rafizi said.
On a related matter, Rafizi announced that the Economy Ministry is working with a group to develop an application which would enable consumers to compare the prices of goods in their area.
This is aimed at helping consumers to be more aware of the price range for items they are seeking, and thus help them to choose wisely.
"For example, when consumers go to buy rice with a piece of chicken, and a restaurant charges them a certain price, they can open the application to check the price range of the same meal at other shops nearby.
"It would then be up to each consumer whether they are willing to go the extra mile to save RM1 or so but this is our responsibility at the ministry to address the issue of rising prices,” the Pandan MP stated. - Mkini
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