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KUALA LUMPUR: Plans to build the RM220 million Federal Agricultural Marketing Authority (Fama) corporate building started in 2011, Agriculture and Food Industry Minister Ronald Kiandee told Dewan Rakyat.
He was responding to opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim’s question to the ministry about the need for such a corporate building when the country is going through the Covid-19 crisis.
According to the minister, the deal, which was carried out through a land swap, followed all the necessary contracting procedures and was approved at the cabinet level.
Kiandee said the process also went through three different prime ministers in the past nine years: Najib Razak, Dr. Mahathir Mohamad and Muhyiddin Yassin.
“And it was approved now and signed by the Perikatan Nasional (PN) government,” he said in his reply in today’s Dewan Rakyat.
Earlier today, Anwar questioned the reason for spending a whopping RM220 million with the 2021 budget for the corporate building in Kelana Jaya, Selangor.
He said that since it is a “Covid-19 budget,” the money should be used to help poor farmers affected by the pandemic.
“Fama was created to help poor farmers market their products. What is our priority? Is it to help farmers or to build a palace in Kelana Jaya? the deputy from Port Dickson had asked.
Kiandee, who is a Beluran MP, explained that the corporate building will have an Agro Bazaar center to sell and market food products, adding that the role and role of Fama have been updated to keep up with the demands of e-commerce.
“Small farmers are oriented to provide products according to market needs and use modern marketing methods to remain relevant to the needs of the industry,” said the MP of PPBM.
Kiandee added that during Covid-19, controlled fresh markets were established to ensure that agricultural products worth RM 800 million could be traded from 5,050 farmers and 4,900 entrepreneurs.
