Travel permit issue threatens deliveries from farms

PETALING JAYA: Farmers are having trouble getting their approval letters through the Covid-19 Intelligent Management System, says the Malaysia Federation of Vegetable Farmers Association.

Its president Lim Ser Kwee said many members nationwide had reported that they could not log on to the system, which is manned by the International Trade and Industry Ministry (Miti), since Tuesday night.

He said the previous work permission letters for interstate and inter-district travel from Miti were only valid until today.

“Even with those letters, some of our members’ lorries sending fresh produce to other states and even Singapore faced problems at police roadblocks.

“Since many of us still could not get a new letter, we will run into trouble trying to deliver produce, ” he said yesterday.

The federation is the umbrella body of the country’s 28 vegetable and fruit farmers associations with over 10,000 members.

Lim urged the authorities to intervene immediately since the issue involved perishable food products.

Without a new permit, he said farmers’ lorries would not make it to their destinations and this would affect vegetables and fruits supply at major wet markets, hypermarkets, stores and exports.