The Farmers Organisation Authority (LPP) and the Federal Agricultural Marketing Authority (FAMA) have been instructed to take immediate intervention measures to overcome the vegetable shortage in the market.

Agriculture and Food Security Minister Datuk Seri Mohamad Sabu said as a long-term measure, the ministry would be creating a system to get information in real-time about the vegetable supply situation in the country.

This is to enable the monitoring of the types of vegetables being grown, the output, production location, the volume of imports and exports, demand volume and production costs.

“Through this system, the government can estimate and make early preparations in case of emergencies.

“I am not an expert in IT (information technology) but if I can monitor the system’s dashboard through my smartphone, we can make early preparations at any time,”  he said in a post on his Facebook yesterday.

He added that he was confident that there were many young people with the capabilities to come up with such a system, and the ministry was prepared to provide the funding to develop it. — BERNAMA