IPOH, July 15 — The 2018 Auditor-General report today revealed that the government suffered losses amounting to RM3.71 million following the inexpert of the Malaysian Pineapple Industry Board (MPIB) in retrieving the MD2 pineapple seeds from the participants under the Rompin Integrated Pineapple Plantation (RIPP).
According to the report MPIB did not claim the pineapple suckers from the Rompin Integrated Pineapple Plantation (RIPP) contract entrepreneurs, which was a condition in the contract.
“The replacement of the uncollected MD2 pineapple suckers amounted to RM3.71 million encompassing RM2.6 million in 2017 and RM1.11 million in 2018. For the record, the Pakatan Harapan government only took over the national administration from Barisan Nasional in May 2018,” the auditor’s report read.
The report advised the Department of Agriculture (DOA) to require all agriculture input suppliers, including the plantation of MD2 pineapple, to get a certificate of Corp Material Confirmation, as one of the important technical specifications in the seed supply agreements.
“The Ministry of Agriculture and DOA should conduct an internal investigation and take stern action on responsible officers if proven of negligence in retrieving the MD2 pineapple seeds,” the report added.
The report also concluded that the Capacity Development programme for the production of fruits and vegetables for the premium markets as less effective as DOA did not focused on the objective of producing six types of fruits and three vegetables as how it was fixed.
“The six fruits selected by the National Key Economy Area were papaya, watermelon, star fruit, honey dew, Cavendish banana, and jack fruit, while the three types of vegetables were tomato, salad and capsicum,” the report said,
