NST 2008/11/20

KUALA LUMPUR: More than 40,000 users have registered with agriculture portal Agribazaar and enjoyed its benefits for free for the past four years.

Agriculture and Agro-based Industry Minister Datuk Mustapa Mohamed said the portal had been well received as it had reduced the administration costs and no third party was involved.

"This is a good platform for industry players to conduct online trading of their products directly to consumers.

"So far, the cumulative transaction value done through the portal has exceeded RM285 million. This shows that the average transaction value in a year is RM50 million," he said after launching the inaugural National Agribazaar Conference here on Tuesday.

The e-commerce portal connects food producers, wholesalers, distributors, entrepreneurs and consumers through Internet-based e-plan, e-buy/sell, e-stock and e-logistic modules, among others.

Members of the portal, of whom 70 per cent are sellers and 30 per cent are buyers, can use the tools for free to access various information besides conducting daily transactions.

Utusan

SUBANG 4 Nov. - Golongan usahawan tani disaran menceburi pertanian organik kerana hasil tanaman jenis itu membawa pulangan lebih tinggi dan lumayan berbanding pertanian konvensional.

Menteri Pertanian dan Industri Asas Tani, Datuk Mustapa Mohamed berkata, kerajaan sedar bahawa pertanian organik di negara ini masih kurang diamalkan oleh para petani berbanding dengan Thailand dan Vietnam.

Katanya, ini terbukti apabila keluasan tanaman organik di Malaysia sekarang hanya mencecah 1,000 hektar atau lebih kurang 0.01 peratus daripada keluasan kawasan pertanian di negara ini.

"Hampir 80 peratus bekalan produk organik dalam negara diimport dari Australia dan New Zealand, kekacang dan rencah perisa dari China, manakala produk diproses dari Thailand, Amerika Syarikat dan Eropah,'' katanya pada Persidangan Kebangsaan Pertanian Organik 2008 di sini hari ini.