Johor has potential to become downstream pepper hub, says DPM Fadillah

KULAI, Aug 22 — Johor has the potential to become a downstream pepper hub due to its strategic location and proximity to Singapore.

Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Fadillah Yusof said the state’s proximity to Singapore means it has a wide market, especially in the food processing industry, which is a potential market for pepper.

Fadillah, who is also the Minister of Plantation and Commodities, said what is important is that downstream products must be produced in Johor so that they become Johor products and can be exported abroad.

“In Malaysia, the biggest producer of pepper is Sarawak, but in the Peninsula, Johor has the most smallholders, so Johor can be a hub for the downstream (pepper) industry,” he told reporters at Le Grandeur, Senai, here today after officiating the Pepper Industry Entrepreneurs Empowerment Programme.

Fadillah said a pilot project using the “smart farming” technique in Sarawak has been started since last year as part of the government’s efforts to improve planting methods while also increasing the yield and income of smallholders. He expressed hoped that the pilot project would be successfully implemented, with the potential to be expanded to other states.

“Among our focus areas are research and development and education, producing seeds that are more suitable for the current situation and increasing productivity,” he added.

Earlier in his speech, he said the government is concerned about the plight of small commodity farmers who have been affected by the global economic slowdown.

Therefore, to deal with the issue of rising agricultural input prices, he said his ministry, through the Malaysian Pepper Board, has revised the amount of assistance, by increasing the assistance for the New Pepper Planting Scheme (STLB) to RM46,000 per hectare compared to RM26,000 per hectare previously.

For the Ripe Pepper Crop Scheme (STLM), the rate was increased to RM25,000 per hectare compared to RM13,000 per hectare before.

“The aid grant limit has also been increased from 0.5 hectare previously to up to one hectare for STLB and also increased from 0.2 hectare previously to up to two hectares for STLM in order to continue to encourage growers to increase the area and productivity of their crop production

“In total, assistance amounting to RM1.14 million has been approved under STLB and STLM with a total area of 47 hectares of crops and benefiting 241 farmers,” he said.

The deputy prime minister said Malaysia is the fifth largest producer of pepper in the world after Vietnam, Brazil, India and Indonesia, with the country recording an export value of RM181.4 million in 2022 compared to RM153.5 million in 2021.

“Until June 2023, the country’s pepper export value is RM65.94 million. I think this is a proud achievement and it is the hope of all of us, especially the ministry, that this momentum can continue even in challenging conditions this year,” he said. — Bernama