SOME 1,200 students from low-income families will benefit from a campus food-bank programme, Food Bank Siswa, when it is launched tomorrow at Universiti Teknologi Mara (UiTM) in Permatang Pauh, Penang.

The students, selected from B40 families with low household incomes, can access to their campus pantry be stocked with dry food items, such as instant hot beverages, noodles, biscuits and cereals.

Penang Mutiara Food Bank (MBF) COO Zakwan Mustafa Kamal said the campus in Permatang Pauh has 1,450 students from B40 families.

“The pantry will be managed by the student representatives’ body. The food items will be from contributing hypermarkets like Tesco and Aeon in Penang,” he told The Malaysian Insight.

MFB, which has been running Penang’s food bank since 2017, will collect the donated items from the hypermarkets and deliver them to the university.

UiTM Permatang Pauh is the third campus after Universiti Malaya and Universiti Putra Malaysia to be selected for the federal food-bank project. The next institute of higher learning is Universiti Sains Malaysia, also in Penang.

Zakwan’s deputy, Shameer Sulaiman, said the students at UiTM Permatang Pauh will also receive packed food once a week under the same programme.

The food will be contributed by nasi kandar restaurants under the Malaysia Muslim Restaurant Owners Association (PPRIM), the project sponsor.

Food Bank Siswa is an extension of the larger food-bank programme for poor households nationwide.

Zakwan said the idea to set it up was presented at the national cost of living action council chaired by Deputy Prime Minister Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail, after reports showed that many university students from B40 families go hungry.

To drive the student food bank, experienced organisations like MFB, Kencara Soup Kitchen and Food Aid Foundation were roped in as strategic partners.

Zakwan, also a board member of Food Bank Malaysia, said the campus programme will soon go nationwide.

“We are still at a pilot-project stage. We have to look at how the few selected campuses handle the programme.

“We want to see their level of commitment, too, because at the end, this programme will be managed by students themselves,” he said.

To reduce continuous dependency on the government, Zakwan said there is an idea being explored to hold a competition among universities to find the best business model to operate the campus food bank.

The food bank should ideally be able to generate some income and become self-sufficient in the long run, he said.

“We can invite corporate personalities to be judges and reward the winning university with a grant of maybe RM100,000. The winning model can be implemented by the universities.

“These are all proposals still at the Food Bank Malaysia level. If the (Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs) ministry approves, then we can do it.” – March 22, 2019.