SHAH ALAM, 6 Jan: The central government needs to control the involvement of the middleman in the fish supply chain to consumers to ensure that the price of fish is under control.
The Communications Director of FOMVA, Mohd Yusof Abdul Rahman, said that the involvement of the middleman, like which is currently happening, is the reason why price of fish is soaring and is hard to control, resulting in the people being burdened.
He said that the central government needs to play its part in using their authority to ensure that no one else tries to take opportunity, causing the price of fish to go up.
“The real price from fishermen is rather low. But when there are many parties involved, such as the middleman, the price of fish will increase when it reaches the consumer.
“That is why we see people willing to go to Sungai Besar to get fish directly from fishermen for a lower price.
“But not everyone has the time and opportunity to do so. Therefore, the government should help,” he said when contacted by Selangor Kini today.
He said this when commenting on the increase in price of fish, which is expected to continue to increase during the rainy season.
Commenting further, he acknowledged that a huge portion of fish is supplied to consumers are imported by foreign countries such as Thailand and Indonesia.
“Therefore, we need to think of other alternatives so that the price of fish will not be too high; such as intensifying fish farming. When fish is farmed, the weather risk that affects the catch, like we are experiencing now, will decrease,” he said.
Mohd Yusof also gave a suggestion for Malaysians to emulate the people of Japan, who are smart in managing co-operation for the sake of their daily living.
“Through co-operations, they can buy goods and necessities in the form of bulk, apart from natural packaging, and are sold among themselves at a low price,” he said.