Fast track subsidies to stop closure of poultry farmers, says consumer watchdog

SHAH ALAM - Poultry farmers nationwide are suffering after chicken feed shot up due to a surge in grain corn and soybean costs, the two main feeds for chickens increased since January, causing some poultry farmers to close farms while others increased prices to cope with the cost.

Consumers Association of Subang and Shah Alam (CASSA) president Datuk Jacob George said no subsidies were given to farmers.

This, he said, is due to policymakers’ including the Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs Ministry who failed to come up with policies that could assist the poultry industry.

“They (policymakers) have been attacking and calling the farmers all kinds of names such as cartel, manipulation and backhand which saw consumers be angry,” he told Sinar Daily.

Adding to the issue, he said Malaysia is falling behind other Asean countries such as Thailand, Vietnam, Laos, and even Myanmar despite the war as they do not have face food security issues.

George said Malaysia should address the elephant in the room that is to reduce its dependency on imported food. “If we buy food from abroad, it means we are buying with Malaysian ringgit to US Dollars and our currency rate is now dropping,” he said, causing food prices to increase.

Commenting further he said the Ukraine conflict is one of the reasons for the surge as the country is one of the leading corn production in the world.

“How can we help the players to increase food security in our country? How can we come up with fast-track subsidies in the system? How can we freeze the price control mechanism?” he said.

Therefore, he said Malaysia needs to set up an independent team comprising of players of the industry to advise the ministry to immediately fast-track subsidies.

On Jan 3, the Federation of Livestock Farmers’ Associations of Malaysia had said they were facing problems to continue their business due to the rising cost of chicken and egg production, and they were waiting for financial aid such as soft loans and feed subsidies to continue operations.

It had further said the authorities need to be concerned over the country’s food security.