MEH launches programme to secure halal food ecosystem

SERDANG, Aug 9 (Bernama) -- The Halal Economy Council (MEH) has launched the Halal Food Security Programme and Halal Farm Project Consortium which aimed to secure the halal food market industry ecosystem chain.

Advisory board chairman Tan Sri Syed Hamid Syed Jaafar Albar said food security issues, especially halal, require a specific mechanism to support the National Halal Policy for the benefit of Muslims.

“Food security is not theoretical but it is a real problem for the world today and in the future,” he told Bernama at the launch of the programme here today.

The event was held in conjunction with the Malaysian Agriculture, Horticulture and Agro Tourism Exhibition (MAHA) 2022, themed “Food Security For The Future”, held at the Malaysia Agro Exposition Park Serdang (MAEPS).

He said the country imported almost RM100 million worth of food, in addition to facing cartel problems, dubious halal status meat and rising food prices.

“Our idea is ambitious. With this programme, we want to ensure that only halal food supplies enter the market in addition to making Muslims the producers and suppliers of halal food,” he said.

He said by presenting the Islamic economic system, he hoped that it would also be able to deal with the threat of slander, falsehood and suspicion that is nested in the contemporary economic system and head towards a transparent and halal Islamic economic system.

Syed Hamid said the Halal Farm Project Consortium aimed to bring together players in the halal sector that include private entities and non-governmental organisations.

“We have identified a 2,023.42 hectares landbank to be developed, covering waqf lands, customary lands and abandoned government lands as well as ready farms.

He said there are also lands owned by the Ministry of Defense that would be developed with the Veteran Halal Farm Project.

“This will be developed with military veterans thus, creating agropreneurs among veterans,” he said.

Besides that, MEH also launched an e-commerce platform, myhalalshoppe.com, and a halal e-directory which acted as a marketplace to invigorate interactions and transactions among entrepreneurs and halal consumers.

At the event, MEH also signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Kuala Lumpur Metropolitan University College to jointly established the Halal Economy Secretariat in an effort to produce more halal entrepreneurs, especially among students and their families, in addition to KLMUC conducting research and development, including providing big data for the Halal Food Security Programme.

-- BERNAMA