RM31.2 mln Living Allowance for 13,000 Sabah fishermen
KOTA KINABALU: More than 13,000 fishermen in Sabah will be receiving RM31.2 million Living Allowance starting May, this year.
Disclosing this at the 11th Annual General Meeting of the Fishermen Society at Dewan Kompleks Belia dan Sukan in Putatan, here yesterday, Deputy Chief Minister cum Minister of Agriculture and Food Industry, Datuk Seri Yahya Hussin, said each fisherman would be given RM300.
“This assistance would be in the form of RM200 in cash, and RM100 in household goods such as rice, flour and sugar,” he said.
“The subsidies will be given not only to those who fish in the sea, but also to those who fish in the river,” he said.
He added that the action had been announced in Budget 2015 in October, last year by the Prime Minister.
Yahya also said that diesel and petrol would be subsidised, as well as land incentives would be carried out to encourage fishermen to go to sea.
“Only in the KK area do we see such assistance being given to fishermen such as the construction of the fisherman’s market, and touch point assistance (marine equipment being given), which help the fishermen carry out their daily duties.
“Three more fish markets have been built in Kampung Pasir Putih Putatan, Kampung Kompimpinan, in Penampang, and in Kampung Unggun, Sepanggar,” said he.
Many large scale projects, subsidies and incentives under the Malaysian Fisheries Development Board (LKIM) have been carried out to assist fishermen increase their income.
The Deputy Chief Minister also pointed out that farmwork and fishing was considered a hard and poor job, however, times have changed, and now, the fishing industry, but a field which is largely rewarding, given the right conditions, and planning.