Study outcome on 'Jihad Against Middlemen' in Dec

SERDANG: The results of the study on the "Jihad Memerangi Orang Tengah" (Struggle Against Middlemen) programme will be known this December, one year after its implementation.Agriculture and Agro-based Industry Minister, Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob said the study was done by the Malaysian Agriculture Research and Development Institute (Mardi) and other relevant agencies.

"After the implementation of various efforts such as the padi buying centres, fruit collection centres, and increasing the number of farmers' markets (pasar tani) and fishermen's markets, we will see the outcome.

"The Ministry has also instructed the National Entrepreneurial Group Economic Fund (Tekun) to provide loans for farmers to purchase bigger boats so that they don't have to rely on middlemen," he said after the Excellent Service Awards 2014 presentation at the ministry's level, here, Tuesday.

However, he said, the programmes would be more successful if each farmer and fishermen had the realisation to free themselves from the shackles of middlemen.

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Ismail Sabri said if the study found an increase of 10 to 30 per cent of farmers and fishermen not using the services of middlemen, this could be regarded as a success as the jihad programme was only recently implemented.

"It is not easy to change the thinking of fishermen, padi growers and other farmers as they are so used to relying on middlemen," he said.

On another development, the minister said from next year, the ministry planned to promote the growing of organic padi and rearing of fish in the padi fields and irrigation canals as well to enable farmers to increase their income.

"Using pesticides on the padi plants as happening now, can kill the fish in the padi fields and canals," he said, adding that an additional incentive for this would be requested in the Budget 2016.

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Ismail Sabri said the same would be done for fishermen through the RM60 million allocation in the Budget 2015 in the field of aquaculture, whereby the fishermen could carry out caged fish rearing so that the fish could be harvested in the monsoon season.

He said this was to avoid relying on middlemen as the fishermen would not be able to go out to sea during the monsoon season. – Bernama

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