Malaysian prime minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin reaffirmed his country’s commitment to modernising its fresh produce sector in his opening address at the International Postharvest Symposium in Kuala Lumpur.
He told delegates from 23 countries that through better infrastructure, crop production management techniques and post-harvest technologies, Malaysia planned a 40 per cent increase in agricultural commodity production by 2020.
'Innovation is the key for the Malaysian agricultural transformation programme to make Malaysian agriculture more competitive,” he said.“Malaysia must continue to seek new platform technologies and knowledge that can effectively speed up this programme.”
He said money would be allocated and research grants made available to fund initiatives that help the country achieve the stated goal.
'It is hoped with these initiatives and R&D grants, new technologies and knowledge will be developed to boost agriculture sector production, thus contributing to the food supply for the nation, and the world,' he said.
'Malaysia has experienced the benefit of constantly upgrading and improving methods and mechanisms for post-harvest handling. For example, in 2011, total exports of Malaysia's horticulture crops comprising fresh fruits, vegetables and ornamentals was valued at US$418.6m, which marked a significant increase of 69.8 per cent from 2006, valued at US$246.6m,' he said.
This year’s symposium was the first to be held in an Asian country and was attended by 530 delegates.It was organised by the Malaysian Agriculture Research and Development Institute, Universiti Putra Malaysia and the International Society for Horticulture Science.
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