KUCHING: Aid and incentives should be given to farmers and fishermen based on their performance in the food production chain, says Datuk Dr Stephen Rundi Utom.
The Minister for Modernisation of Agriculture and Regional Development shared that this could motivate them to continue producing high quality products.
“We need to move towards giving incentives and aid based on how well they do their jobs as farmers and fishermen.
“The more they produce, the more incentives we will give them. And this surely will encourage them to work harder,” he said during the AgroInvest Sarawak here on yesterday (June 24).
He added that farmers and fishermen should not rely solely on subsidies. “If we continue to do so, we will never be able to move forward.”
He also applauded the hard work by Malaysia Agriculture Research and Development Institute (Mardi) in organising programmes to promote AgroInvest Sarawak.
“I also would like to emphasise the initiative for farming mechanism and automation to be established in order to ensure a much higher productivity for the production of quality rice seeds.
“The supply of rice stock needs to be maintained. This is because the current production can only accommodate 38 per cent in the state.
“Those steps are important because they can help achieve a self-sufficiency level for about 60 per cent by 2030,” said Dr Rundi.
