Agriculture and Agro-based Industry Minister Datuk Salahuddin Ayub will propose to the Cabinet to list Harumanis mango as a must-have item on the menu served at events organised by ministries and government agencies.

He said the proposal was aimed at assisting the development of the Harumanis industry, especially in Perlis.

Salahuddin said the Federal Agricultural Marketing Authority (FAMA) had set up a special unit to market the Perlis icon products to the international market.

He said his ministry would also work with Tourism Malaysia to promote fruit season as one of the country’s tourism products.

Salahuddin said this at a dialogue session in conjunction with his ministry’s meet the customers day at Perlis state level held at the Bukit Temiang Agriculture Complex, Kangar today.

Earlier, in his speech, Salahuddin said more efforts needed to find alternative crops that could be commercialised in the long term, to replace rubber and oil palm.

He said this as price fluctuation of the two commodities had affected the lives of the farmers as well as forcing the government to subsidise both industries to enable them to survive.

"At the same time, we face other challenges and stiff competition from soybean producers that are trying to destroy the palm oil industry by blaming the crop for forest exploration. New crops with high market value should be planted more widely, but in-depth studies need to be carried out first," he said.

At the event, Salahuddin also presented a mock cheque of RM1 million to Perlis Harumanis cluster management while an incentive totalling RM57,000 was handed over tyouth agropreneurs at the Muda Agricultural Development Authority (MADA).

- Bernama