Malaysia to draft concrete roadmap to curb food waste, says Ahmad Shabery

The Malaysian government is planning to come up with a more concrete roadmap to address food waste, said Agriculture and Agro-based Industry Minister Datuk Seri Ahmad Shabery Cheek. Inspired by the Fome Zero or Zero Hunger programme in Brazil, he said the goverment was willing to work with all parties including civil societies to formulate the roadmap besides looking forward to learn from other countries on the elimination of poverty and hunger. "We believe that a responsible government will never allow even a single citizen to be hungry, no matter how poor they are," he said in his welcoming remarks at the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations 33rd Regional Conference for Asia and The Pacific (FAO APRC) in Putrajaya, today. Ahmad Shabery said Malaysia had devised a temporary social safety net programme to help them weather these challenging times of poverty and hunger. He said a variety of programmes were in place to provide a more sustainable push in the quest to uplift the living standards of its people. "For example, through MyBeras, the government will provide 20kgs of rice a month to about 120,000 of the country's hardcore poor families, in efforts to eradicate poverty and strengthen food security," he said. Later, Ahmad Shabery was elected as the chairperson at today's plenary session, which was proposed by Tonga's Minister of Agriculture, Food, Forests and Fisheries Semisi T. Fakahau and seconded by The Philippines's Agriculture attache and deputy permanent representative Cupino Lazaro Jr. The session is expected to review and endorse the Senior Officials Meeting report of the 33rd Session of the Regional Conference for Asia and the Pacific. About 500 delegates from 46 countries of Asia and the Pacific region are attending the five-day FAO APRC conference, which began on Monday at Putrajaya International Convention Centre, focusing on the revitalising of rural economic, nutrition policies and investment as well as youth in future agriculture. – Bernama, March 10, 2016.]]>