KUCHING: The Ministry of Food Industry, Commodity, and Regional Development is taking proactive measures by collaborating with other countries to prevent the infiltration of Foot and Mouth Disease (FMD) into food resources.
Minister Datuk Seri Dr Stephen Rundi Utom said that despite Borneo (Sarawak and Sabah) being FMD free, it is relatively difficult to prevent the spread of the disease.
“However, because we are FMD status free, other countries are willing to collaborate with us.
“That being said, my ministry officials and I will be visiting countries like Brazil, Taiwan, the Philippines and Australia soon.
“This is for them to share their experiences with us on ways to prevent FMD from infiltrating food resources and for us to learn from them so that we would not repeat the same mistakes,” he said.
He said this at a press conference during the courtesy visit from the Minister of Primary Resources and Tourism of Brunei Darrusalam Dato Seri Setia Dr Abdul Manaf Metussin and his delegation at the Waterfront Hotel here yesterday (Feb 28).
On another note, Rundi said food security is among the global challenges that needs to be taken seriously.
“We are very thankful that other countries we have visited before such as Holland, Thailand and Indonesia were very helpful to us in tackling these challenges.
“We are going to feed around nine billion people by the year 2050,” he added, hoping that Sarawak could play a major role in providing food resources.
“The primary challenge lies in infrastructure and therefore, it is important to ensure we possess the appropriate infrastructure to attain our goals,” Dr Rundi added.
He also hoped that farmers realise this aspiration and how important it is to achieve it, while making sure the ventures are sustainable.
Deputy Ministers Datuk Dr Abdul Rahman Ismail and Datuk Martin Ben were also present during the courtesy visit alongside other distinguished guests.
