A large crowd at the exhibition area for private and public agencies.
KOTA SAMARAHAN: Sarawak will have four more farmer’s markets and ten 1Malaysia People’s Agrobazaars (ABR1M) by 2016.
Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak revealed this at the launch of the national-level Farmers, Livestock Breeders and Fishermen Day 2015 celebration at the Kota Samarahan Civic Centre here today.
The latest initiative, he said, was part of Budget 2016 to increase farmers’ markets by 50 and establish 150 new ABR1M across Malaysia.
In an effort to increase food supply in the country, Budget 2016 will allocate RM5.3 billion to the Agriculture and Agro-based Industry Ministry for economic activities in the agriculture sector.
In commending the vibrant Medan Niaga Satok, he emphasised that more such markets should be set up in other parts of Sarawak to provide for the needs of communities as well as businesses.
More importantly, Najib pointed out that Malaysia reported a food trade deficit of RM17 million each year.
“This means we are importing more than we export,” he explained.
In line with this year’s celebration theme ‘Agrotechnology the Catalyst of Transformation’, he urged farmers, breeders and fishermen to change their mindset and adopt new technologies in their agriculture practices.
“The government has placed great emphasis on agriculture and rural development to ensure its transformation towards becoming a modern, innovative and competitive sector,” he stressed.
“We must push the agriculture sector forward to be more developed and be on par with countries such as Australia and New Zealand,” he said.
These efforts were crucial, he added, to increase yields and expand production to meet increasing food needs.
Najib further emphasised that food security was a major global issue that required serious attention as the world population was expected to reach 9.6 billion from the current 7.2 billion by 2050.
“The world needs to produce 60 per cent more food from now or the people will starve. It was reported that 800 million people in the world go to bed starving presently,” he said.
That being said, Najib pointed out Sarawak should increase the production of special rice like Bario which has a huge demand locally and abroad.
The agricultural products and agro-based industry exhibition began Nov 27 and will be running until Dec 3.