MOA Targets 2,000 Products To Penetrate International Market By 2020

TELUK INTAN (Perak, Malaysia) April 10 (Bernama) -- The Ministry of Agriculture and Agro-Based Industry is targeting for over 2,000 commercial agricultural products to penetrate overseas markets in the next three to five years. Deputy Agriculture and Agro-based Industry Minister Tajuddin Abdul Rahman said so far only about 300 products were exported to Singapore through the Agrobazaar Malaysia opened at Sultan Gate. "Looking at the potential, we will make Singapore our 'gateway' to explore more opportunities to bring our products to the international market," he told reporters after officiating the pre-launch of the 2017 National Farmers' Wave or Gelombang Tani Nasional (GTN) here, Sunday. According to Tajuddin, the implementation of GTN 2017 is very significant because it not only changes the way of thinking and working, but will also increase the agricultural output of the country, as well as the downstream industry. "God willing, when more people are involved and our products can meet international standards, I am sure we will be capable of exporting more agricultural products such as biscuits, fruit, frozen food and cordial drinks," he said. Elaborating, Tajuddin said Malaysia could not export more agricultural products at the moment as they did not comply with the international standards including in terms of labelling, packaging and nutrition content. "This is not a huge problem because we have agencies that are able to help the farmers involved to improve their products to meet the standards. "At the same time, we have also sent our agricultural products to countries such as China, Japan, Autralia, Holland and Abu Dhabi," he said. GTN 2017 will be launched by Deputy Prime Minister Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi at the Degong Permanent Food Production Park in Langkap, on April 15. -- BERNAMA