NACCOL FORMS HIGH-LEVEL COMMITTEE ON GRAIN CORN INDUSTRY DEVELOPMENT

KUALA LUMPUR, July 11 (Bernama) — The Executive Committee Meeting of the National Cost of Living Action Council (NACCOL) today agreed to establish a High-Level Committee on the Development of the National Grain Corn Industry.

Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi said the decision was made to ensure the development of the National Grain Corn Industry, which will be implemented over the next 15 years, to secure the ecosystem of the country's poultry and livestock feed industry.

Ahmad Zahid, who is also Minister of Rural and Regional Development and NACCOL Executive Committee chairman, said the meeting also agreed to appoint the Minister of Agriculture and Food Security (Datuk Seri Mohamad Sabu) to chair the high-level committee meeting.

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“Since this issue is closely related to national food security and has a complex ecosystem chain, I agree that the Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security should lead the development of the grain corn industry in Malaysia based on several strategies outlined with the cooperation of the Ministry of Rural and Regional Development (KKDW) and the Ministry of Plantation and Commodities (KPK).

“This cooperation ensures that grain corn can be planted on a large and commercial scale. This needs to be expedited to significantly reduce dependence on imported raw corn,” he said in a statement after chairing the NACCOL Executive Committee meeting today.

Ahmad Zahid said that by 2030, a total of 1.25 million tonnes of grain corn will be produced, with 136,527 hectares of land developed on a large scale (farms) and suggested that during the current Consolidation Phase (2021-2025), planting land will be doubled to ensure that the targeted achievements can be met.

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He also called on state governments and other parties to welcome the proposal by identifying vacant land that can be developed for the Grain Corn Industry Development, and by offering land owned by agencies under KKDW, such as FELCRA and RISDA, for development.

Regarding the current issue of the sugar industry under the food cluster by the Ministry of Domestic Trade and Cost of Living (KPDN), Ahmad Zahid said the meeting mandated that refined white sugar supplies be continuously available in warehouses with a capacity of 1,000 tonnes in Sabah and the Federal Territory of Labuan and 1,000 tonnes in Sarawak.

“To date, the retail price of refined white sugar in Malaysia remains the lowest among ASEAN countries. Short-term and medium-term challenges need to be addressed immediately. Thus, after reviewing and hearing all views of the meeting members, the meeting agreed to bring this matter to the attention of the Cabinet for a decision soon,” he said.

On Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET), Ahmad Zahid said the implementation of TVET by various parties, especially the National TVET Council and NACCOL, needs to collaborate with State Economic Planning Units (UPEN).

“The sectors focused on by TVET are strategic sectors closely related to the national living standards agenda. Among them are national food security, AI-based technology industries, and innovations supporting the sustainability of key national industries such as energy transition, agriculture, semiconductor industry and more,” he said.

Commenting on the Cash Assistance Study Report under the Income Cluster by Khazanah Research Institute (KRI) discussed at the meeting, Ahmad Zahid said there were several policy improvement suggestions for managing cash assistance in Malaysia, including enhancing monitoring, evaluation, and reporting of programmes.

“The meeting agreed that a One-Stop Centre should be established for information dissemination and registration to improve access to cash assistance programmes and other programmes,” he said.

As to the status report on Ops Kesan 2.0 concerning the targeting of diesel subsidies that began on June 10, 2024, by KPDN, Ahmad Zahid emphasised that traders should not arbitrarily raise the prices of goods and services, as a significant portion of the goods industry still enjoys subsidised diesel prices through the fleet card under the Subsidised Diesel Control System (SKDS).

He added that as of July 3, 10,542 premises had been inspected, and 243 written notices had been issued by KPDN to traders violating Act 723 (Price Control and Anti-Profiteering Act 2011).

-- BERNAMA