Federal Agricultural Marketing Authority (FAMA)
JASIN: The Federal Agricultural Marketing Authority (FAMA) is targeting to achieve more than RM150 million in Agrobazaar Rakyat 1Malaysia (ABR1M) sales nationwide by year-end.
FAMA Retail Director Abd Rahman Mahmood said the target was backed by the encouraging participation from retailers and the government’s desire to expand the sector.
“Last year’s sales of RM143.42 million from 108 ABR1Ms nationwide were encouraging and impacted retailers positively.
“In 2018, we will add 14 more ABR1Ms, with at least one more for each state, starting March,” he told reporters after the launch of the Melaka’s state-level Savings on Household Expenses @ ABR1M Sales here today.
The programme launch was officiated by Melaka Agriculture and Entrepreneur Development Committee Member Datuk Hasan Abd Rahman. Also present was FAMA Director (Melaka) Che Samudin Hasan.
Abd Rahman said FAMA would ensure that all ABR1Ms would conduct the savings programme, which offered savings of between five and 20 per cent off retail prices in the market for 27 selected items including fish, chicken, vegetables and fruits.
Meanwhile, Hasan said FAMA estimated that ABR1M sales in Melaka could exceed RM3 million by year-end compared to last year’s RM2.32 million.
He said there were four ABR1Ms in Melaka, of them three in the Central Melaka district and one in the Jasin district.
ABR1M is a project to upgrade the retail premises of entrepreneurs to sell food and fresh farm produce direct from producers to consumers, as well as daily household items, at reasonable prices.
The project was among the government initiatives to reduce the cost of living on foods in line with the objectives of the Economic Transformation Programme and National Key Economic Areas to transform the retail sector by 2020. – Bernama