PETALING JAYA: Engagement sessions and dialogue between Agriculture and Food Security Ministry officials and the Johor Small and Medium Poultry Farmers Association will help resolve issues over subsidies, says Deputy Minister Datuk Arthur Joseph Kurup.
Datuk Seri Dr Wee Ka Siong, who brought up the issue in Parliament's Special Chamber, thanked Kurup for agreeing that dialogue will help resolve the matter.
"I thank Deputy Agriculture and Food Security Minister Datuk Arthur Joseph Kurup for agreeing with me that an engagement session between the ministry and poultry farmers should be held to resolve this issue once and for all.
"There are only 20 of them and a dialogue with ministry officials will help resolve the issue of compliance to avoid any effect on the production of poultry and eggs," Dr Wee said in a Facebook post on Thursday (March 6).
"I believe that the purpose of providing subsidies is to balance the price differences and the ministry should not use 'technical issues' as an excuse to delay any payment to the applicants," the Ayer Hitam MP added.
"Moreover, these applicants are key players in the poultry farming industry and the production of chicken and eggs is crucial to the national economy and the livelihood of the people," he said.
Dr Wee, who is also MCA president, said he was only the middleman who brought up grievances from the poultry farmers.
Kurup, who answered Dr Wee in the Special Chamber, had agreed that there were issues after the subsidy applications were changed from physical forms to online submission (via Google Forms), and a dialogue session would definitely help to resolve the matter.
"The objective here is to increase the output of poultry and eggs and more dialogues will help us realise this goal," Kurup added.
