SEREMBAN: More effective measures are needed to increase food production nationwide to reduce the country's food import bill, says Datuk Seri Aminuddin Harun.

       The Negri Sembilan Mentri Besar said the Agriculture and Food Industries Ministry should also re-evaluate the effectiveness of programmes carried out by its agencies instead of blaming state governments for not providing more land to increase food production.

       He said Negri, for example, had allocated thousands of acres of land in Jelebu to the ministry for food production but this was not fully utilised.

       "The ministry needs to find out why some farming and aquaculture areas have remained idle, and the problems faced by farmers and fishermen," he said.

       Aminuddin asked if checks had been done on the increasing prices of fertiliser, pesticides and seeds, which was a likely contributing factor.

       He was asked to respond to a statement by the ministry that the failure by state governments to provide new areas for food production has caused the national food import bill to go up to RM63.6bil last year.

       The ministry, in a statement to Utusan Malaysia, said state governments seemed to be more interested in property development projects as this was more profitable.

       The ministry added that some farmers who did not own land also faced problems applying for temporary occupational licenses to occupy and work on state government land, which contributed to lower food production.

       Aminuddin said the ministry should also reveal how its programmes had helped to produce successful farmers and increase food production.

       "Have your agencies been effective in helping create more successful farmers in agriculture, livestock and aquaculture for example?

       "How frequently do your officers visit the farmers and check how they are doing or if they need any assistance?

       "Do we even have sufficient data on how much they were producing?" he asked.

       He added that the ministry should also encourage those interested in taking over farming areas that have been left idle.

       Citing another example, he said the state government had allocated thousands of acres for a cattle-breeding project in Gemas several years ago, which failed to take off.

       The Federal Government had in December 2007 signed a loan agreement totalling RM250mil with the National Feedlot Corporation to finance the costs of establishing and operating the centre as part of its policy to develop and increase beef production.

       Aminuddin said the ministry should also be quick to provide assistance to farmers such as subsidies, machinery and infrastructure and in turn, state governments would continue to assist them to help boost food production.