Over a million sacks of 10kg local white rice distributed following govt intervention, says Mat Sabu

KUALA LUMPUR: More than one million sacks of 10kg local white rice have been distributed following the government’s intervention measures to ease the shortage, says the Agriculture and Food Security Ministry.

As of Oct 16, Agriculture and Food Security Minister Datuk Seri Mohamad Sabu (pic) said as many as 1,027,739 10kg sacks of local white rice have been distributed across hypermarkets, to the Federal Agricultural Marketing Authority (Fama) and Farmer's Organisation Authority (LPP), as well as state wholesalers.

“The shortage of local white rice is expected to ease in the nearest time frame.

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“This is in light of the harvest period in Kedah set to end in late October,” he said in a written Parliamentary reply on Thursday (Oct 26).

Mohamad was responding to a question by Cha Kee Chin (PH-Rasah), who asked about the current status of rice supplies.

Cha also asked about the reasons behind the local rice shortage and steps taken by the ministry in resolving the issue.

To this, Mohamad said the shortage in local white rice was a direct result of the increasing price of imported white rice.

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The increase announced by Padiberas Nasional berhad (Bernas) on Sept 1 caused a spike in the demand for local white rice.

“This is because the price of local white rice is controlled by the government at RM2.60 per kg which is much cheaper than imported white rice which does not have any price controls.

“A shift in consumer behaviour from imported white rice to local white rice eventually caused a shortage in the market,” he said.

Mohamad said the government had also previously announced several intervention measures to overcome the shortage in local white rice.

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This included directing Fama and LPP to increase the distribution of local white rice to rural areas and establishing a special task force to oversee rice supplies issues, among others.

Mohamad added that large scale SMART Sawah programmes as well as strengthening the irrigation infrastructure of padi fields were among measures taken to ensure rice supplies in the long run.

“We are looking to expand SMART Sawah programmes as well as expand padi fields nationwide, through collaborative efforts with various stakeholders.

“The Agriculture and Food Security Ministry through Malaysian Agricultural Research and Development Institute is also working with higher learning institutions and research institutes to produce high quality crops that can be harvested in less than 75 days, while withstanding extreme weather,” he said.