Govt ready to relocate livestock and resources from flood-prone areas

KLANG: The Government is prepared to help farmers to relocate livestock, moveable agricultural produce, machinery and other resources to secure centres if the monsoon floods were to hit farms in the country.

Agriculture and Agro-Based Industry Minister Datuk Seri Ahmad Shabery Cheek said assets such as machinery in every district would be identified and relocated to a suitable relocation centre to avoid any damage by the floods.

“Same goes to all movable agricultural produce like livestock.”

“This is necessary to reduce the losses and it will help our farmers to resume operation fast once the situation permits, he said.

He said that a set of standard operating procedures for flood management has been developed to help farmers avoid another major loss following last year’s floods.

Ahmad Shabery said that the ministry’s officers, their families and movable assets would be taken care of before the start of the monsoon season.

“This is to ensure that our officials will be able to concentrate fully on helping the agriculture community in need after learning from last year’s incident.”

In 2014, the floods affected 1,560 officers and it crippled operations in flood-hit states, he added.

Besides accommodating food supply to the affected areas, he said that the government would also focus on recovery measures for the entire industry.

“We will provide incentives to the affected farmers from our dedicated fund, as well as provide consideration for loan rescheduling should the need arise,” he said.

Ahmad Shabery also noted that the government has a ready stockpile during the impending year-end monsoon season.

“If necessary, more food will be imported to meet demand,” he said.

Last year, Malaysia was struck by the largest floods in the nation’s history and the agriculture sector was amongst the most affected.

Among the worst-affected flood hit states last year were Kelantan, Terengganu, Pahang, Perak and Perlis.

Based on the ministry’s record, Shabery said that the total agriculture damage was RM297.83mil, with RM106.8mil loss from damaged assets and infrastructure and RM152.97mil in damaged agriculture produce.