ISKANDAR PUTERI: Malaysia needs to grow its own maize for use as animal feed, which can save billions of ringgit that are spent on importing it. Agriculture and Agro-based Industry Minister Datuk Seri Ahmad Shabery Cheek said the country imported about three million tonnes of maize from Argentina annually, valued at RM3.2bil. "We should look at how Indonesia, Thailand and the Philippines are able to produce their own maize to produce animal feed for their livestock industry, without imports," said Ahmad Shabery. Ahmad Shabery said that in order to become self-sufficient, Malaysia would need between 300,000 and 400,000 hectares of maize plantations. "The quality of maize will determine the pricing of our poultry, as poor quality maize will produce poor quality poultry," said Ahmad Shabery.

Source: The Star September 14, 2017 09:00 UTC