Malaysia will open up more agricultural commodity markets in anticipation of greater challenges and stricter rules at the global level, says Datuk Seri Fadillah Yusof.
The Plantation and Commodities Minister told reporters after officiating at the National Agricultural Commodity Day 2023 on Tuesday (Dec 5) that one of the challenges came from the European Union Deforestation Regulation, which prohibits deforestation for agricultural commodities like oil palm, rubber, cocoa and coffee, adding that the government would ensure that the plantation and commodity sectors would not be affected by the tightened rules, smallholders in particular.
Fadillah, who is also Deputy Prime Minister, said the focus now should be on how Malaysia could expand its product markets.
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The Plantation and Commodities Minister told reporters after officiating at the National Agricultural Commodity Day 2023 on Tuesday (Dec 5) that one of the challenges came from the European Union Deforestation Regulation, which prohibits deforestation for agricultural commodities like oil palm, rubber, cocoa and coffee, adding that the government would ensure that the plantation and commodity sectors would not be affected by the tightened rules, smallholders in particular.
Fadillah, who is also Deputy Prime Minister, said the focus now should be on how Malaysia could expand its product markets.
Read more at https://tinyurl.com/4fb86cvc
WATCH MORE: https://thestartv.com/c/news
SUBSCRIBE: https://cutt.ly/TheStar
LIKE: https://fb.com/TheStarOnline
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NewsTranscript
00:00 What are the EU's rules and how to overcome this?
00:11 One of them is the EU Deforestation Rule.
00:18 This means that we can no longer dig up new forests to plant our agri-commodity.
00:27 When we talk about agri-commodity, we mean palm oil, forest, paper, coffee and many more.
00:35 These are all things that are not allowed to be used.
00:39 We can't do this.
00:40 Starting from 2020, we can't dig up new forests.
00:44 This is a constraint.
00:46 When we went to Europe, we discussed this.
00:51 The result of the discussion, together with Indonesia, is that they have agreed to create a special task force.
00:58 To see the rules.
01:03 On one hand, to see if the rules are applicable.
01:07 What are the effects on our country, etc.
01:12 That's what we see.
01:13 The first meeting has been held in Jakarta.
01:16 The second meeting will be held in December.
01:23 We want to make sure that small farms will not be excluded from the supply chain of agri-commodity.
01:39 Because the cost of following the rules is quite high.
01:43 Big companies may not have a problem in agreeing.
01:46 But small farmers will face challenges.
01:49 Secondly, some places, for example in Melanjong, for the indigenous people, maybe in Sabah and Sarawak,
02:00 there are also traditional lands.
02:04 Where they practice planting in a low-lying way.
02:09 So, will this be included or be linked to the rules?
02:14 These are the things we discussed.
02:16 Because for us, the basis of agri-commodity is the United Nations SDG.
02:25 The first article in the United Nations SDG is poverty reduction.
02:32 And for us, our effort to reduce poverty is through the agricultural sector and agri-commodity.
02:41 That is, when we open land, they can plant and be involved in agri-commodity.
02:49 This is proven when we create the Dalu File.
02:52 We can solve the problem of land poverty.
02:56 And this is one of the efforts we want to implement.
03:00 And we say that the United Nations should be the highest body.
03:06 So it should be respected and obeyed by all countries as a member of the United Nations.
03:12 Thank you.
03:13 [END]