IPOH, April 13 — The recent increase in vegetables and fruit prices in Perak was due to the state supplying other states, such as Johor, which were affected by flood, its Menteri Besar Datuk Seri Saarani Mohamad said today.

However, Saarani told the public not to worry about the supply of vegetables and fruits in the state for the Ramadan month as he said the supply was sufficient.

"This is supply and demand. When the demand is high, such as in the case when we supplied the vegetables and fruits to other states, thus the price will definitely rise,” he told reporters after the Riang Ria Raya programme organised by the Perak Agriculture Department here.

Saarani also said the supply of vegetables and fruits for the upcoming Hari Raya Aidilfitri celebration would be sufficient in the state based on the current trend of vegetable and fruit production.

"So far, the state has not faced any shortages of main food crops such as vegetables and fruits.

"In fact, the production of watermelons, chillies and leafy vegetables which are in demand during Ramadan month has increased during the first quarter of 2023,” he explained.

Separately, Saarani also said that the state has shown an increase in the production of vegetable commodities which is 7,354 hectares of planted area with a total production of 134,877 metric tonnes in 2022.

"This is higher than the year before where the number of hectares of planted area was only 7,190 with a total production of 125,308 metric tonnes,” he said.

Likewise, Saarani said the fruit commodity also showed an increase in the planted area with 11,440 hectares in 2022 with a total production of 123,215 metric tonnes as compared to the year 2021, which was only 11,439 hectares of cultivated area with a total production of 121,458 metric tonnes.