BELURAN: The Agriculture and Food Industry Ministry (Mafi) is targetting over 3,000 farmers throughout the country to receive assistance from the Community Garden Programme (Kebuniti) and the Organic Farming Programme under the 12th Malaysia Plan.
Its minister Datuk Seri Dr Ronald Kiandee
(pic) said both programmes involved an allocation of RM50 million to help the rural population to generate income.
“The goal of Kebuniti is to produce crops for self-sustenance...of course surplus can be turned into economic opportunities.
“For the organic programme, the goal is to develop agricultural industry through an eco-friendly method and of course, to produce better crops in terms of bio-security,” he told reporters after attending an event with farmers in Lingkabau zone here Saturday.
He also said the effort will involve government agencies including the Federal Agricultural Marketing Authority (Fama) to help farmers overcome issues in marketing their produce.
Meanwhile, Kiandee, who is also Beluran MP, said his parliamentary constituency office was prepared to assist the Health Ministry to implement the National Covid-19 Immunisation Programme in the area, including in the islands.
He said he was aware of the issues faced by the rural population, especially those on the islands, who found it difficult to register for the vaccine online.
“I am, however, confident that the Health Ministry has a programme to ensure they (the islanders and rural population) receive the vaccine.
“We (the parliamentary constituency office) are ready to assist. In fact at MAFI, many ministry staff have also registered as volunteers to help the Health Ministry to provide the vaccine, and I am sure it is the same where other ministries are concerned,” he added.
Kiandee also advised Malaysians, especially those in rural areas, to keep abreast of the immunisation programme, which is being carried out in the effort to flatten the Covid-19 curve in the country.
