LANGKAWI: Farmers, smallholders and fishermen in the country can contribute to the reduction of national food imports if they use new and efficient methods in their endeavours, Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad said today.
He said methods used by countries with lower reliance on imported food products such as China and Japan could be utilised, in order to yield greater output.
“China and Japan are willing to provide training to our people if we want to learn how they produce more (in terms of agriculture and fisheries),” he said at a press conference after a gathering with farmers at the Langkawi Farmers’ Organisation building here.
Dr Mahathir said both countries are known to have achieved food self-sufficiency despite having far larger populations than Malaysia.
“They are willing (at) any time for our farmers to go to and study there, in fact, they are even willing to send their people here (to teach new agricultural techniques),” he said.
more to come