SHAH ALAM, April 21 — The Selangor Food Warehouse (GMS) now stores 5,000 tonnes of rice, enough to sustain residents’ needs for two months, said Menteri Besar Dato’ Seri Amirudin Shari.
He added that efforts are underway to increase the storage capacity to 15,000 tonnes to ensure the supply would last six months.
“Rice stock accumulated over the past two years after the GMS policy was introduced is 5,000 tonnes, and we will work to increase it to 15,000 tonnes.
“With around 5,000 tonnes, we could actually last 1.5 months to two months even without imported rice.
“If we can increase this to 15,000 tonnes, it means we can have up to five, six months of food security,” he told the Selangor State Legislative Assembly here today.
Amirudin was explaining possible implications to Selangor from the West Asia conflict.
Besides rice, Amirudin said GMS also stores protein sources such as meat and fish to ensure a balanced diet for residents.
Earlier this month, state executive councillor for infrastructure and agriculture Dato’ Izham Hashim assured that emergency food supplies in Selangor are sufficient.
He added that GMS stock could serve around 20 per cent of residents’ needs each month till year-end.
Izham said the state government plans to increase storage capacity of grains and protein sources to 40 per cent of monthly requirements by next year.
