Azlan Othman
The Ministry of Primary Resources and Tourism (MPRT) has been allocated a budget of BND84.38 million for financial year 2023-2024.
During yesterday’s 19th Legislative Council (LegCo) session, Minister of Primary Resources and Tourism Yang Berhormat Dato Seri Setia Dr Haji Abdul Manaf bin Haji Metussin said BND39.9 million is allocated for salaries, BND25.34 for recurring expenditure and BND19.11 million for development expenses.
FOOD SECURITY
The minister said efforts to increase the country’s food production over the past three years have faced various challenges due to global issues such as the COVID-19 pandemic, geopolitical conflict and uncertain economic situations.
They had led to issues such as labour shortages, increased logistics and transportation costs and increased cost for agricultural inputs such as fertiliser and animal feed, most of which are still highly dependent on imports.
“Despite facing these challenges, we are still able to improve the output performance of the food sector,” said the minister.
Overall, the performance of the food sector, which includes production from the agricultural and agrifood industry, as well as the fisheries industry, has recorded an increase of around 3.13 per cent, from BND781.26 million in 2021 to BND805.75 million in 2022.
The fishing industry in particular had an increase in production of 10.6 per cent, from BND190.95 million in 2021 to BND211.21 million in 2022, he added.
Meanwhile, the country is 100 per cent self-sufficient in broiler chickens and chicken eggs, 85 per cent in fish, 68 per cent in tropical vegetables, 37 per cent in and 8.4 per cent in rice.
BETTER RICE VARIETIES
Yang Berhormat Dato Seri Setia Dr Haji Abdul Manaf said the ministry is determined to increase the production of the main commodities under the agriculture and fisheries sector, not only to ensure the country’s food security but also to contribute to increasing the amount and value of agricultural exports.
In an effort to increase the output of rice, the Department of Agriculture and Agrifood (DAA) is researching rice varieties with higher yields that meet consumer tastes, through cooperation with agencies and research institutions.
The minister noted that the DAA is working with Yuan Longping High Tech Agriculture Co Ltd from China and International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) in the Philippines to increase rice output from four to five metric tonnes per hectare (MT/ha) to seven to eight MT/ha through the Sembada 188 rice variety.
The DAA is also actively implementing a pilot project of planting several hybrid rice varieties that have the potential to produce as much as 7.5 MT/ha, said the minister.
