
Tan Tean Chee says food security for the people is important
By Foong Pek Yee
The supply of some 60,000 kilogram vegetables from Chemor daily risks disruption when the farmland is taken over for development, says Chemor Modern Farmers Association.
Its chairman Tan Tean Chee says Chemor in Perak is one of the major suppliers of vegetables daily, producing some 60,000 kilogram of a variety of greens like spinach, kangkung, choy sam, brinjals, chillies, turnips, spring onions and maize.
These are sold to wholesale markets in Ipoh, Penang, Kedah, Kelantan and Selayang.
“Climatic change is already threatening food supply worldwide, ” notes Tan, adding that any other disruption like shrinking farmland should be avoided.
On that note, he expresses his concern as some of the farmers toiling on about 1,200 acres of farmland in Chemor had received eviction notice last December.
About half of the 293 members in the association were affected, he adds.
Tan, 60, who is a third generation farmer in his family says the soil and environment in Chemor is conducive for vegetable farming.
According to the elderly villagers, vegetable farming in the area is dated back to the 1920s.
Tan says vegetable farming is labour intensive, crediting the farmers in Chemor for their hard work and resilience in ensuring steady supply to the market.
He says all is well until 2005 when some of the farmers who do not have legal documents to use the land had to evict to make way for development.
Two years later, in 2007, the association was set up to help the farmers.
Tan says the farmers want to pay to lease the land so that they can continue to farm and contribute to the food supply in the country.
Meanwhile Dr Jeyakumar Devaraj who has been helping the farmers says the authorities concerned should look at farming as food security for the people in the long term.
He points out that climatic change and food scarcity which is already happening worldwide is set to escalate, and this is something that needs the authorities’ urgent attention.
Dr Jeyakumar suggests the existing farmland in Chemor be preserved instead of making way for mega projects.
While mega projects are important for the economy, the Parti Sosialis Malaysia (PSM) chairman says the farmers who have been working hard for a living and contributing to the food supply for the people is also doing something important for the country.