Ministry Targets to Get US$188 Million Worth of Crop Yields Through Contract Farming

BANTING (Selangor,Malaysia), June 21 (Bernama) -- The Agriculture and Agro-based Industry Ministry has set a target of getting 300,000 tonnes of crop yields worth RM600 million (US$188 million) through the Contract Farming programme this year. Its minister, Noh Omar, said the target involved 7,000 hectares of agricultural land cultivated by about 4,500 participants of the programme. He said the participants involved in the programme comprised the farmers from the Agriculture Department, Farmers' Organisation Board, Malaysian Pineapple Industry Board, farmers in Sabah and Sarawak and from the private sector. "With the allocation given by the government, the ministry is optimistic that by end of this year, we will be able to reach over 100 per cent of the target, hence surpassing our achievement in 2011 in which we achieved 126 per cent, more than 26 percent of the target set by the Prime Minister (Najib Razak)," he told a press conference here on Thursday. He said the programme was not only able to increase the supply from the farm, but could also reduce the dependency on the supply from wholesale market by 10 per cent. Earlier, Noh also launched Contract Farming to Farmers' Market programme and presented TEKUN (Venture Group Economic Fund) loan of RM5,000 (US$1,566.64) each to 500 participants of the programme. -- BERNAMA