ALOR SETAR, April 20 (Bernama) -- Angkatan Koperasi Kebangsaan Malaysia Berhad (Angkasa) has volunteered to be an importer of rice from Thailand in an effort to ensure sufficient domestic supply.
Its president Datuk Seri Dr Abdul Fattah Abdullah said discussions on the matter had taken place earlier with cooperatives in neighbouring country when he attended the Asia Pacific Region Cooperative Business Office Meeting earlier this year.
"I have discussed with the Minister of Cooperatives of Thailand and we accepted the offer to get rice supplies from them...he agreed to offer to Angkasa, because he knows we are facing a rice problem.
"The matter is not easy as we already have concessions given by the government to a certain group, so we hope to negotiate with the government.
"We will take a portion of the segment for cooperative members only as we have over seven million members and we want to cater to these seven million people and this requires discussion with the higher authorities," he said after officiating the Kedah Angkasa General Meeting here today.
In the meantime, Abdul Fattah said Angkasa is now trying to explore new areas in order to achieve revenue of RM73 billion as targeted by the government by 2030.
He said, his organisation is confident that the target can be achieved by exploring information technology, food security and exploring new resources such as technology and electric vehicles.
Earlier, when speaking at the opening of the meeting, Abdul Fattah said Angkasa is also currently exploring business areas that can solve food security issues.
"For example in Pahang, a total of 32,000 chickens were reared through the Poultry Pilot Project in collaboration with the Pahang Cooperative which were then processed and offered through BA100 stores and also 15 outlets in the Klang Valley.
"Angkasa is also in the process of developing a beef cattle breeding project involving Angkasa Kedah and Perlis with the involvement of four cooperatives as a start," he said.
-- BERNAMA
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