Sabah Bumiputera farmers appeal to minister for help
KOTA KINABALU: The Sabah Bumiputera Agricultural and Livestock Association (Petanah) has submitted a proposal to the Minister of Agriculture and Food Industry Minister, Datuk Junz Wong, to seek his ministry’s urgent assistance to alleviate the problems faced by Sabah Bumiputera farmers.
Its president, David Gaibin Ransoi, said that the main appeal expressed in the proposal is the dire need of the padi hill farmers for government assistance so that they are able to cultivate their hill padi twice a year to increase their yield and income.
“We had appealed to Datuk Junz Wong for a consideration of subsidies to enable the farmers to more easily afford the costs of fertilizers, pesticides and forest clearance,” he said.
“These are the main problems faced by the poor farmers. Additionally we have also appealed for a monthly allowance of RM300 for each registered farmer and livestock breeder, to be able to have the same assistance long enjoyed by Sabah fishermen.”
He said that we all need to be reminded that the farmers in the villagers are the number one food producers in the state.
“Without these hardworking farmers and breeders, the supply of food would be drastically reduced and would lead to starvation,” Gaibin said.
“As such the people-caring government which is serious about increasing food production in Sabah, needs to address the serious problems faced by farmers and livestock breeders. Most of them have been forgotten for a very long time.”
Gaibin also appealed to the new Sabah government to look into building access roads to many villages so that farmers can easily transport their farm produces to the market.
He said many farmers ended up planting food crops just for the need of the family because producing at commercial scale would not be practical due to lack of access to markets.
“We dearly hope our caring and hardworking Minister of Agriculture and Food Industry could accord assistance to the farmers and breeders in the near future,” Gaibin added.
“We in Petanah also wish to record our most sincere gratitude to Datuk Junz Wong, who, despite his busy schedule, was able to assign his political secretary, Rakam Sijim and his special officers, Andrew and James Lim to deal with our Petanah delegation.”