JERANTUT: The Agriculture and Agro-Based Ministry has fixed the floor prices for five local seasonal fruits, to overcome losses incurred by farmers due to the dumping of the fruits in the market.
Its minister Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob, however, said the floor prices were only applicable to those who sold the fruits to the Federal Agriculture Marketing Authority (Fama).
“As I had announced earlier, the floor price for the affected fruits is to be announced next year, but because I want to ensure the prices of the fruits this year are stable, I make the announcement today, instead.
“The floor prices for the five affected fruits (for every kilogramme) is D24 durian which are sold at RM1.80 per kilogramme, durian kampung RM1, rambutan (anak sekolah, seli, gula batu) RM1, mangosteen RM1.50, cempedak kampung (artocarpus integer) RM1, dokong RM1 and duku langsat RM1,” he said.
He told reporters this after launching the Seasonal Fruits Marketing Plan at the Jerantut Fama Office here, yesterday.
Ismail Sabri said the prices could be used as a guideline by other fruit farmers if they wanted to sell to other quarters other than Fama.
In addition, he said the fixing of the floor price helped farmers by ensuring the prices of the fruits did not fall too low for them to incur losses.
“So, fruit farmers should come to Fama instead if there are buyers purchasing at lower rates than the floor prices, as Fama cannot buy below the floor prices,” he said.
In the meantime, Ismail Sabri said Fama targeted to purchase 10,000 tonnes of seasonal fruits worth RM17.5 million via 198 purchase centres nationwide, this year. He said the purchase was based on the rising domestic and overseas demands this year.
Ismail Sabri said Fama would prioritise on durian as a commodity by buying 6,620 metric tonnes worth RM12 million this year followed by 1,520 tonnes of rambutan.
Meanwhile, he said to ensure the marketing of Malaysian durians specifically to China continued to be competitive, Fama would fix a special standard for durian marketed abroad. — Bernama
Currently, he said Fama was conducting a detailed study before a report of the proposal is sent to China’s Quarantine Ministry. — Bernama