By Olivia Miwil - August 15, 2023 @ 10:52am
KOTA KINABALU: The Agriculture, Fisheries, and Food Industry ministry is taking proactive and long term measures to ensure food security, particularly rice production.
Its minister Datuk Seri Dr Jeffrey Kitingan said climate change and growing population are global challenges that significantly impact food security and safety.
"The state of Sabah is also affected by these issues, especially in food crop production such as rice.
"Therefore, my ministry has made a decision, and I emphasise here that any agricultural land designated for rice cultivation must not have its purpose changed for other crops or uses.
"My ministry also aims to establish more Rice Plantation Development Zones in the state," he said during the opening Ceremony of the 41st Annual Meeting of the Sabah Agriculture Department here yesterday.
Apart from that, he also added that dryland rice cultivation technology has been introduced to farmers for implementation in rice cultivation development in Sabah.
The department is also conducting studies on suitable rice varieties for cultivation in saltwater-intruded rice fields, he said.
Jeffrey, who is also state deputy chief minister, said on Aug 8, 2023, the prime minister announced an increase in the government's contribution for rice sales subsidies from RM360 to RM500 per metric ton.
"Therefore, with this positive news, it is hoped that more individuals will engage in rice cultivation, providing motivation to existing rice farmers to achieve a self-sufficiency level of 60 per cent in rice production by the year 2030."
Jeffrey also said that Sabah has the first organic rice field in Sabah that has received the 'myOrganic' certification from the Department of Agriculture, under the Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security.
"With a land area of 3 hectares, (rice entrepreneur Pangiran Salutan) is capable of generating an annual income of RM315,000 from cultivation.
"Programs like these are truly commendable as they yield high returns on a small land area.
"I suggest that the Agriculture Department pay attention to this matter and create various related programs to provide income-generating opportunities for the B40 group," he said, adding an allocation of RM50,000 will be provided to 'myOrganic' rice entrepreneurs.
Meanwhile, he said there is an increasing trend in the production of several food crops last year such as vegetables which saw a 13 per cent increase, avocados with a 5 per cent increase and coconuts with a 4 per cent increase.
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