KLANG: Rice farmers have a right to voice their grievances and the government is listening, says Datuk Seri Mohamad Sabu.
The Agriculture and Food Security Minister said this while speaking about the planned protest by 1,000 padi farmers at the Prime Minister’s Office on Monday (Jan 27) to hand over a memorandum regarding the padi price and proposed Crop Seed Quality Bill.
“That is the right of the padi farmers to send a memorandum to the Prime Minister’s Office.
“We will follow up with intensive discussions with all stakeholders and this will then be presented at the coming Parliament session.
“We will be making a few announcements (on rice) in Parliament after the engagements between the various departments in the ministry and Beras Nasional,” said Mohamad.
He was speaking after the Parti Amanah Nasional Convention 2024 at a hotel here on Sunday (Jan 26).
The Malaysia Padi Farmers Brotherhood Association (PeSawah) is set to hand over the memorandum to Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim during the protest.
“PeSawah opposes the floor price policy for rice which does not ensure fair income for padi farmers and the Bill which restricts farmers’ freedom to store, share and sell seeds. The Bill will also increase the cost of planting padi seeds,” said PeSawah in a statement on Sunday.
