KUCHING: Three Bills concerning fishery, bio-security of plantation and seed usage are going to be tabled in Parliament for the July session.
This was revealed by Agriculture and Agro-Based Industry Minister Datuk Salahuddin Ayub during a courtesy call to Chief Minister Datuk Patinggi Abang Johari Tun Openg at the latter’s office in Wisma Bapa Malaysia here, yesterday.
“The Bill amendment concerning fishery will allow our fishery industry especially the fishery vessels to venture into the Pacific Ocean or Indian Ocean. This will eventually boost the industry,” he said.
According to Salahuddin, there have been a number of demands from the key players in the industry to empower the country’s fishery and to reduce the import of fishery products.
“The second Bill is regarding the bio-security of plants, fertiliser and seed, so that we can control the quality of our crops. This will ensure that the crops are safe to be consumed.
“While the third Bill will revolve around the Plant Seed Act to regulate and handle the distribution of illegal seeds in the market.
“These three Bills will be tabled in Parliament and it will require an agreement from the Sarawak state government,” he elaborated.
Touching on tissue culture of MD2 pineapple variety in Malaysia, Salahuddin said it is important to control the issue of fake products that does not meet the quality requirements before being exported to buyers like China.
“We have signed a protocol with China for pineapple products. Therefore, we need to have an enforced law so that there won’t be any party who will take advantage on the industry,” he said.
“Once we are caught with wrongdoings by the China government, we will not be able to export our pineapple to them in the future,” he added.
