A nationwide campaign has been launched by PKR against the delisting of national rice processor and importer Padiberas Nasional Bhd (Bernas), as well as ‘policies that hurt rice farmers’.

"(Where we had) hit the highways to campaign for lower car prices, you will now see us in the bendang ( paddy fields) in this campaign," PKR director of strategy Rafizi Ramli told a press conference today.

Also heading the campaign is Alor Setar MP Gooi Hsiao Leung who said the issue will be raised in Parliament and on a roadshow featuring forums and ceramah for rice growers.

Bela Tani chairperson Mohd Subri Said said the 240,000 rice farmers are suffering from price restrictions and import exemptions which benefit suppliers, especially Bernas.

Bernas, acting as the middleman, enjoys duty exemption of 20-30 percent on rice imports but does not pass on its profits by buying paddy at a higher prices, he claimed.

The firm controls 31 percent of the local rice market and is the sole rice importer. Rice imports account for close to 30 percent of local consumption.

Malaysian Rice Farmers Action Body chairperson Muhammad Fuad Yaacob said Bernas purchases local paddy at RM1,050 per tonne, while private millers buy this at an average of RM1,100 per tonne in the nation’s ‘rice bowl’ of Kedah and Perlis.

He said the ceiling price of paddy is now RM1,200 per tonne, far lower than farmers’ demand of a floor price of RM1,350 per tonne.

"If millers want to buy at more than RM1,200 per tonne, then they are threatened with permit revocation,” he claimed.

"We also need permits to sell our paddy to millers outside our state. This means that we cannot send our paddy to Johor if a miller there offers to pay more.”