KUCHING, March 12: Sarawak farmers who are affected by floods will receive assistance to replace equipment damaged or lost in the disaster, says Deputy Prime Minister Dato Sri Fadillah Yusof.
Fadillah who is the Minister of Plantation and Commodities (KPK) said agencies under his ministry would collaborate with the relevant sector’s big companies to carry out corporate social responsibility (CSR) programmes to assist smallholders especially in terms of replacing farming equipment which have been lost or damaged.
“In Johor, we have identified (the recipients). Thus, if there are farmers in Sarawak who are also affected by flood, we hope the (Gabungan Parti Sarawak) leaders or the community leaders would inform us,” he told reporters after officiating at the ‘Back To School’ programme for P194 Petra Jaya at Mydin Tunku Putra here today.
Fadillah who is also the Petra Jaya MP further disclosed that the ministry’s assistance is only targeting those involved in the farming sector such as in pepper, cocoa, rubber, oil palm and so on, while other ministries have their own assistance initiatives for their respective groups or sector players.
“However, oil palm and rubber (equipment) are seldom damaged where most common cases only involved lost equipment,” he added.
Fadillah also said the assistance programme can only be carried out once the flood situation has subsided because it would involve helping the flood victims to clean their homes.
At the ‘Back To School’ programme, a total of 1,500 students from Petra Jaya parliamentary constituency each received a Mydin cash voucher worth RM100 to buy items for school.
Also present were Fadillah’s wife Datin Sri Ruziah Mohd Tahir, Deputy Minister in the Premier’s Department (Law, MA63 and State-Federal Relations) Datuk Sharifah Hasidah Sayeed Aman Ghazali and Satok assemblyman Dato Ibrahim Baki. — DayakDaily
