KUALA LUMPUR (Feb 17): A total of 1,638 applications by egg producers worth RM553.19 million has been approved from the start of subsidy programme on Feb 5 till Feb 13, 2023 to help producers overcome the increase in production costs, said Minister of Agriculture and Food Security Datuk Seri Mohamad Sabu.  

The Kota Raja MP told Dewan Rakyat that this was one of the short-term measures taken by the government to deal with the shortage of grade A, B and C chicken eggs in the market.

In a parliamentary written reply dated Feb 16, Mohamad Sabu said other short-term measures implemented were allowing the importation of eggs from Dec 2022, as well as the importation of day-old chick or hatched eggs from Brazil, New Zealand, France and Australia to ensure sufficient stock of chicken egg replacements.

As for long-term measures, the minister said the government has planned to reduce the dependence on imported corn by 30% from 2032 for chicken feed through the initiative of planting grain corn in the country.

Also, studies were carried to produce alternative raw materials for chicken feed from local sources made of oil palm by-products such as the Palm Kernel Expeller (PKE) and Palm Kernel Cake (PKC), Mohamad Sabu said.  

He added that the government is offering chicken farmers easy loans amounting to RM300 million through the Agrofood Financing Fund to help the farmers overcome their affected working capital from the increase in production costs.