By Lian Cheng
KUCHING, Nov 30: The Sarawak government has allocated RM194.48 million in the Sarawak Budget 2023 for the Food Industry, Commodity and Regional Development (M-FICORD) to embark on the transformation initiatives towards achieving its vision as an advanced agriculture sector and rural economy by 2030.
M-FICORD Minister Dato Sri Dr Stephen Rundi Utom said the future endeavour of the Ministry, which is reflected in its new name, will focus on commercialising the agriculture sector through greater collaboration with global, domestic and community partnership, driven by data and innovation.
“In this regard, my Ministry together with Economic Planning Unit (EPU) Sarawak is coming up with a comprehensive Agrofood Industry Masterplan that will chart the future direction of the agrofood sector.
“This is to ensure that there is proper synergy and alignment of our plan with that of the Regional Development Agencies to develop our agrofood industry,” said Dr Rundi while delivering his winding up speech at Sarawak Legislative Assembly (DUN) at New DUN Complex here today.
He expressed gratitude to various regional development agencies such as HDA (Highland Development Authority), NRDA (Northern Region Development Authority), IRSDA (Integrated Regional Samarahan Development Authority) and SADA (Sri Aman Development Authority) for allocating substantial funds for the development of the agriculture component in their respective regions.
“The State budget for my Ministry will be complemented by the Federal funding of which the amount can only be ascertained after the Supply (Budget) Bill 2023 is passed by the new Federal government,” said Dr Rundi. — DayakDaily
