MALAYSIA'S PEPPER INDUSTRY NEEDS BIG INVESTORS - WILLIE MONGIN

KUCHING, Sept 28 -- The future of the country's pepper industry depends on attracting big investors to open large-scale farms for the purpose of mass production, said Deputy Plantation Industries and Commodities Minister Willie Mongin.

He said the ministry welcomed investors, both from within and outside the country, to open farms in Sarawak.

“The country's pepper industry cannot solely depend on production from smallholders and it needs to take steps like other pepper-producing countries such as Vietnam, Brazil, Indonesia and India.

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“These nations have attracted large investors to invest in farmland in their respective countries. For example, Vietnam brought in investors from India to grow pepper on a large-scale there," he told reporters after a working visit to the Malaysian Pepper Board (MPB) here today.

Malaysia is the fifth largest pepper producer in the world after Vietnam, Brazil, Indonesia and India, and 98 per cent of the country's pepper crops are grown in Sarawak.

The deputy minister said national pepper production stood at 35,539 metric tonnes last year but it declined to 30,000 metric tonnes this year due to the unpredictable weather and COVID-19 pandemic, among others.

As of Sept 15, there were 36,682 pepper growers in Malaysia, with a crop area of 7,659 hectares, he said based on data obtained from MPB's E-Gardener System. 

He also urged pepper growers to be involved in downstream activities that offered higher prices for the commodity as well as to follow the programmes organised by MPB.

Willie added that MPB had set up a subsidiary, Saraspice Sdn Bhd, to promote and market Sarawak pepper in the local and international markets, as well as engage in downstream activities of pepper-based products.

-- BERNAMA