KUCHING: The Ministry of Agricultural Modernization and Regional Development Sarawak (MANRED) is now officially known as the Ministry of Food Industry, Commodities and Regional Development.

The new name change was announced by the Sarawak Premier, Datuk Patinggi Tan Sri (Dr) Abang Abdul Rahman Zohari Tun Datuk Abang Openg during the opening of the Sustainable Agriculture and Food Safety Congress (COSAFS) here on Wednesday.

"Since agriculture is too important to us, I have decided to change the name of this ministry under Dato Sri Dr. Stephen Rundi, a minister who works hard with his vision, to the Ministry of Food Industry, Commodities and Regional Development. 

"We will review whatever input you learn from this congress, and it is part of our move toward sustainable agriculture," he said.

In the same speech, Datuk Patinggi Tan Sri Abang Zohari also shared his views on the direction of sustainable agricultural development and food security which he said was a very challenging thing in developing the Sarawak economy.

He said the agriculture sector has been identified as one of Sarawak's economic growth engines through the Post COVID-19 Development Strategy (PCDS 2030). He added that it would open the space for producers, research scientists, consumers, organisations, institutions, corporate bodies, and communities to strengthen cooperation towards achieving the goal of making Sarawak a food exporter by 2030.

During the ceremony, there was also an exchange of Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between Universiti Putra Malaysia (UPM) and Swinburne University as well as the symbolic handover of AgriHub@Gedong project funds. 

Also present were The Minister of Food Industry, Commodities and Regional Development Sarawak Dato Sri Dr Stephen Rundi Utom, Deputy Minister of Food Industry, Commodities and Regional Development Sarawak 1 Datuk Dr. Abdul Rahman Ismail, Deputy Minister of Food Industry, Commodities and Regional Development Sarawak 2 Martin Ben, Chairman of the Board of Directors of UPM Tengku Syarif Laksamana Perlis Dato' Seri DiRaja Syed Razlan Syed Putra Jamalullail, UPM Vice-Chancellor Dato' Prof. Dr. Mohd Roslan Sulaiman and Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Food Industry, Commodities and Regional Development of Sarawak Datu Edwin Abit. The four-day congress, which was held from 21 to 24 September, received the participation of more than 300 participants to attend the keynote lecture including oral presentations and posters highlighting solutions and suggestions in aspects related to agriculture and food security.

Date of Input: 26/09/2022 | Updated: 28/09/2022 | lanz