Ade Zulkarnain, the secretary-general of the Animal Farm Board of Indonesia, told the daily that a trade mission from the country’s agriculture ministry had offered to sell Malaysia livestock from micro, small and medium-sized farms.
“The Malaysian government agreed to the offer, so they (the private importers) are expected to start buying in the first quarter of next year,” he was quoted as saying.
Representatives from the Malaysian government will inspect chicken and duck farming practices to ensure compliance with World Organization for Animal Health standards, as well as proper management based on Good Breeding Practices.
The Indonesian government meanwhile has cleared certain farms in Bogor and Purwakarta of any traces of avian influenza.
Last year, statistics from the agriculture and agro-based industry showed that Malaysia spent RM45.4 billion in 2015 on fresh and frozen fruits, vegetables and meat imports from 120 countries.
The fruits and vegetables were sourced from countries such as China, India, Thailand and Australia, and some produce was even imported from Singapore.
Federation of Malaysian Consumers Associations (Fomca) secretary-general Paul Selvaraj said then that Malaysia was too dependent on imports, and needed to focus more on food crops to become more self-sufficient, The Star reported.
He said at present, Malaysia was only self-sufficient in a few items such as eggs, poultry and pork.