PUTRAJAYA, Feb 27 — The Agriculture and Food Security Ministry (MAFS) has imported and distributed 661,761 old coconuts, equivalent to 661 tonnes, with a total value of RM1.45 million, to ensure sufficient coconut supply in the local market.
It said the coconut supply has been placed at major distribution centres including the Dengkil Fama (Federal Agriculture Marketing Authority) operations centre in Selangor, the Senawang Fama operations centre in Negeri Sembilan, and the Simpang Pulai Fama operations centre in Perak.
This supply will then be channelled through 42 Fama centres nationwide and marketed to Fama retail outlets and major wholesalers to ensure the availability of coconuts in the market.
“This effort will continue until the domestic coconut supply returns to stability. Among the countries that export old coconuts to Malaysia are Indonesia, Thailand and Sri Lanka,” the MAFS said in a statement today.
As a long-term measure, under the 12th Malaysia Plan, the Department of Agriculture has implemented several initiatives including replanting and new planting of coconut trees.
This involved the cultivation of various coconut seedlings from high-productivity varieties like MATAG, Pandan, the Malayan Yellow Dwarf, and the Malayan Red Dwarf coconuts.
It also announced that land identified with the cooperation of the state governments will be used for coconut cultivation to increase domestic supply.
This effort also involves collaboration with the Area Farmers' Organisation under the Farmers' Organisation Board.
“Since 2016, LLP has implemented 43 coconut planting projects nationwide with a total area of 643.42 hectares involving 123,426 coconut trees,” the MAFS said.
— Bernama
