Malaysia’s Ministry of Agriculture and Agro-based Industry has allocated RM10 million to help poor farmers to venture into the Small and Medium Enterprises (SME) sector. Its minister Datuk Seri Salahuddin Ayub said the farmers taking part in the programme would be given equipment and training including for producing traditional cakes which are still much in demand. ‘‘The equipment is worth RM10,000 for every qualified participant,’’ he said after visiting a traditional cake entrepreneur under the ‘Rezeki Tani’ Programme, in Kelantan.
Datuk Seri Salahuddin added that the ministry was prepared to increase the fund if it was not enough to help those farmers really needing the assistance. He said officers from the ministry would go down to the field and seek out poor farmers and rope them into the programme without having to wait for an application form to arrive at their office to be processed, as done prior to this. ‘‘Definitely, they must choose those who are really diligent and willing to work hard to change their circumstances,’’ he said.
— Bernama
