FOOD TERMINAL AT KOTA BHARU

Fama Aims To Raise Agri Produce By 20 Pct Annually


KOTA BHARU, Feb 5 (Bernama) -- The Federal Agricultural Marketing Authority (Fama) aims to increase agricultural produce by 20 percent annually until 2010 to meet increased national demand, director-general Datuk Mohamed Shariff Abd Aziz said today.

Noting that RM20 million in revenue was generated by local entrepreneurs last year, he expected this to increase to RM30 million this year, telling reporters who met him here: "This is a big amount towards reducing dependence on foreign agricultural goods."

Mohamed Shariff said a wide variety of food items are being produced by the local small and medium industries (SMIs) for domestic consumption, and this should continue to rise each year spurred by the growing number of food producers.

He said Fama will increase production not only to meet domestic needs and reduce dependency on foreign imports but also for export.

Turning to the National Food Terminal (Teman, for Terminal Makanan Negara), he said a wide array of agriculture produce could be marketed via a cluster system managed by Fama.

Apart from serving as a sales centre for agriculture products which were previously marketed in a non-systematic approach, Teman also functions as a centre for processing such products.

On the entrepreneurs engaged in Tualang honey farming, Mohamed Shariff said some 100 of them in Baling, Pendang and Jerlung in Kedah could produce up to 200 metric tonnes of honey a year.

Each of them is now able to obtain a mean monthly income of RM2,000, he added.

-- BERNAMA