Malaysia is taking active measures to ensure an adequate supply of essentials such as rice, vegetables and poultry for the local market. Various states have also implemented measures to bump up production, and the state of Perak is no different. Director Norsiyenti Othman from the Perak Agriculture Department stated that some of the crops were in abundance, and were being sold to other states as well as exported elsewhere.
According to Norsiyenti, Perak is Malaysia’s largest producer of okra, with about 23,000 tons produced in 2021. “We have also been the largest producers of sweet corn and sweet potato in the country for the past 10 years,” she said, highlighting that about 23,000 tons of sweet corn and about 33,000 tons of sweet potato were produced in 2020.
“As for leafy greens, we are the third largest producer of spinach at about 9,200 tons, mustard greens at 17,000 tons and about 2,000 tons of kailan in 2020,” she said.
However, Norsiyenti said some types of produce had not met the SSL yet. “They include ginger, chilli, tomato, cabbage and fruits like mango, pineapple, watermelon and langsat,” she said, adding that the data collected was from the department’s registered farmers and that there could be more produce being sold in the local market by unregistered ones.
According to the Agriculture Department’s booklet on statistics for crops, Perak produced some 120,424 tons of vegetables, 89,081 tons of cash crops and 97,985 tons of fruits in 2020.
Source: thestar.com.my