Uggah wants allocation for agriculture continued
KUCHING: Deputy Chief Minister Datuk Amar Douglas Uggah Embas hopes that the allocation for the State’s agriculture sector will be continued in the 2017 Budget which will be tabled next month.
He said the funding is to enable the implementation of various transformation programmes into the sector.
Uggah, who is also minister of modernisation of agriculture and rural economy, said his ministry was now mulling to set up a marketing network to assist farmers in the interior areas to market their products.
“This includes the setting up of a collecting centre and purchasing unit, while reaching out to the interior areas to make sure their products could be marketed. At the same time, this will solve issues on supply and demand.”
He also hoped for more funding to be allocated for the rural people to increase their standard of living, saying he agreed with Chief Minister Datuk Patinggi Tan Sri Adenan Satem that the poor and needy are mostly found in the rural areas.
“Which is why we are hoping for more facilities such as roads, clean water supply and electricity to be implemented in order for more rural areas to be connected.
“Hence, more rural areas will benefit from the facilities to be implemented with the additional funding provided.”
Present were Assistant Minister of Rural Economy (Interior Areas and Plantation) Datuk Francis Harden Hollis, Deputy State Secretary Datu Ismawi Ismuni, Permanent Secretary to Ministry of Modernisation of Agriculture and Rural Economy Datu Dr Ngenang Jangu and Sarawak Development Institute CEO Datu Aloysius J Dris.