Rice-ing to the occasion

Supply measures being put in place to meet needs

SHAH ALAM: Various short- and long-term measures are in the pipeline to overcome the shortage of locally produced rice in the market, says Agriculture and Food Security Minister Datuk Seri Mohamad Sabu.

They include holding discussions with rice producers and wholesalers to increase the supply of local rice to outlets owned by the Federal Agricultural Marketing Authority (Fama) and Farmers’ Organisations Authority (LPP), he said.

“I have also instructed that local rice be immediately dispatched to all supermarkets so that consumers have more options,” Mohamad said at the Fama grocery store here yesterday.

He also advised consumers not to hoard local rice.

“People are advised to buy rice according to their needs and not to stock up so that other consumers can also get locally produced rice,” he said.

Mohamad said he was informed of an incident where a consumer had “used” four different people to buy himself eight 10kg rice bags.

This was done in spite of him only needing two bags for himself and his family.

Cooking up solutions: Mohamad checking the local white rice stock at a grocery store in Jalan Kebun, Shah Alam. — KK SHAM/The Star

“Don’t worry, as locally produced rice will be delivered from time to time to supermarkets and we believe the supply will return to normal in a few weeks’ time,” added Mohamad.

The minister said that to date, Fama has distributed 244 metric tonnes of local rice throughout the country via grocery outlets managed by entrepreneurs under its authority.

Another measure to ensure that consumers can get their supply of local rice, retailing at RM26 per 10kg, is to restrict businesses from buying more than 10 bags at one time.

This was because the current supply of local rice would be sufficient to meet consumer needs if businesses, such as big restaurants, did not buy too much from the same outlets as regular customers.

He added that his ministry had helped wholesalers hold discussions with restaurateurs to convince them to buy imported rice instead, which is being offered to them at wholesale prices.

To a question if the shortage was due to some unscrupulous traders packaging local rice and selling it as imported produce, Mohamad said these were only unsubstantiated allegations without any evidence.

On the long-term measures, Mohamad said the government was also looking at the possibility of using hybrid padi seeds instead of the current inbred variety.

Farmers in Sekinchan complained recently that the seeds of the local variety used in Malaysia were sensitive and susceptible to various diseases, which has adversely affected yield.