KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 6 — The Agro Madani sale organised by the Agriculture and Food Security Ministry (KPKM) last year recorded sales amounting to RM93.7 million and involved the participation of 74,800 entrepreneurs.
Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Food Security Datuk Arthur Joseph Kurup said the programme was held at 5,608 locations, which exceeded the target of 5,000 locations, and attracted 2.9 million visitors.
“This programme indirectly increased the income of producers as they can sell their products or produce directly to consumers without going through middlemen.
“The impact on the general public is that we managed to save RM27.8 million on the price of goods to approximately 11.6 million households across the country,” he said in his speech at the opening of the Agro Madani Mega Sales here today.
Given the overwhelming response, especially among the B40 and M40 groups, Arthur said the ministry will continue to hold the programme, hopefully at 5,000 locations by October this year.
Meanwhile, Farmers’ Organisation Authority (FOA) chairman Datuk Mahfuz Omar said the Agro Madani Mega Sales would serve as a platform for entrepreneurs to introduce their products directly to industry players.
“We want to bring together the industry players and the new entrepreneurs under FOA, the Federal Agricultural Marketing Authority (Fama) and the Area Farmers’ Organisation (PPK) to market their products,” he added.
At the event, a signing ceremony for the exchange of notes on skills training in agriculture was held between FOA and the Prisons Department.
According to Mahfuz, through the collaboration, the FOA will provide allocation for the training of prison inmates in agriculture.
“We have held this collaboration with prisons in Labuan, Kuala Krai and Perlis and planning to expand it to four other prisons,” he said, adding that FOA also planned to involve the Skills Development Department under the Ministry of Human Resources.
“This collaboration will enable inmates to obtain a skills certificate after attending the training, and then they can continue their studies for the Malaysian Skills Diploma level after completing their time in prison,” he added.
— Bernama
