THE Agriculture and Food Security Ministry will investigate the problem of vegetable dumping reported in Lojing Highlands, affecting about 500 farmers.

Minister Mohamad Sabu said the Federal Agricultural Marketing Authority (Fama) will provide advisory services to ensure a stable vegetable supply, benefiting local growers.

“Fama is buying vegetables at higher prices than the market price because it wants to help the farmers, but this move does not help in the long term.

“The ministry will coordinate (moves) to balance the supply of local vegetables with imported ones,” he told reporters at the Raya ceremony in Alor Setar last night.

Mohamad was commenting on a recent report that farmers in Lojing Highlands had to throw away thousands of tonnes of unsold vegetables due to an alleged surplus of imported vegetables.

He said the cultivation of certain vegetables by too many farmers in one season was one of the causes for the oversupply. – Bernama, April 24, 2023.