KUALA LUMPUR, March 14 – The natural resources and environment ministry will hold an emergency meeting soon to discuss measures to address the hot and dry weather. Its minister, Datuk Dr Wan Junaidi Tuanku Jaafar said the joint meeting with related ministries and agencies was imperative as the gist of discussions would be brought to the Cabinet meeting on Friday.
He said the meeting will also discuss the need for cloud seeding and whether schools should be closed if the weather condition worsens. He told this to the reporters when met at the Parliament Lobby here today. The ministries involve education, energy, green technology and water, science, technology and innovation and health, while the agencies comprise the meteorology and environment departments.
Meanwhile, Agriculture and Agro-Based Industry Minister Datuk Seri Ahmad Shabery Cheek said his ministry had drawn up an emergency plan to ensure that crop yields were unaffected by the hot weather due to the El Nino phenomenon. Among the measures taken was to provide pumps to channel water to strategic farming areas nationwide, he said.
On another issue, he said the government needed 400,000 hectares of land to plant crops for animal feed to reduce dependence on supply from abroad. He said he is worried because the import-export gap is growing. This year, he said the deficit has increased to RM18 billion, mostly due to imported animal feed.
“This would require the cooperation of all parties, especially state governments, so that comprehensive planning could be done. For example, we already have a corn project for chicken feed but it has to undergo several tests to determine whether it gives good response to the chicken,” Ahmad Shabery said.
