PETALING JAYA: The targets for rice production output and rice productivity per hectare have not been achieved under the Agriculture and Food Security Ministry\u2019s Management of Rice Cultivation Programme, the Auditor-General\u2019s Report 2022 revealed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The report also noted that rice production self-sufficiency and farmers’ income targets had not been achieved.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cRice seed production by the Malaysian Agricultural Research and Development Institute (Mardi) for the period 2019 to 2022, amounting to 258.14 tonnes, cannot meet the required demand of 507.52 tonnes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cInsufficient production of rice seeds will lead to the use of seeds that are not recognised by the Agriculture Department,” the reported noted.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It also pointed out that of the rice granary areas, only the Muda Agriculture Development Authority (Mada) had been gazetted as a rice-planting area.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Additionally, the report concluded that the programme management was unsatisfactory and in need of improvement in terms of land, rice seed, fertiliser and machinery management as well as allocation control.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The report also noted that the programme incurred RM660.14mil in losses, the biggest amount of public fund wastage in this series of audits.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It pointed out that the remaining allocation accumulated in the Farmers’ Organisation Authority amounting to RM448.87mil was not spent optimally to help the target groups reduce the cost of rice production.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
As such, it said the ministry could not use the remaining allocation to implement other programmes to reduce production costs and benefit farmers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
According to the report, three agencies had yet to return remaining allocations under the entry points projects (EPP) 11 programme amounting to RM26.77mil, even though the programme ended in 2020.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
These are the Kemubu Agricultural Development Authority (RM10.22mil), Maffi Sabah (RM7.28mil) and the Sarawak Food Industry, Commodity and Regional Development Ministry (RM9.27mil).<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The report noted that the selling price of rice seeds to farmers exceeded the permissible control price.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
As such, farmers had to bear the cost of higher rice production, it added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
There was also a delay in the distribution of fertilisers to the farmers with some receiving supplies past the effective period, affecting its usage during the rice growing season.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
An exemption was also given to the National Farmers Organisation (Nafas) for the delay in the supply of fertiliser for 2016 to 2019, amounting to RM211.27mil.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This delay became a recurring issue every year because no action was taken against defaulting suppliers, the report pointed out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It added that a lack of machinery had also caused farmers to rely on private service providers as only 589 (66%) of the 892 units of agricultural machinery could be operated, the report added.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
PETALING JAYA: The targets for rice production output and rice productivity per hectare have not been achieved under the Agriculture and Food Security Ministry\u2019s Management of Rice Cultivation Programme, the Auditor-General\u2019s Report 2022 revealed. The report also noted that rice production self-sufficiency and farmers’ income targets had not been achieved. \u201cRice seed production by the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":10908,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[176],"tags":[320,159],"class_list":["post-11109","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-rice-production","tag-global-rice-news"],"acf":{"enable_premium_overlay":false},"yoast_head":"\n