SIBU (March 2): Bawang Assan assemblyman Dato Sri Wong Soon Koh has granted minor rural project (MRP) funds worth RM50,000 to support flood-affected farming households in his constituency.

This, he said, came following his dialogue sessions with the Sibu Vegetable Planters Association.

According to him, the funds would be used to help offset the farmers’ losses and support the cultivation of their crops for the next planting season.

“The affected farmers say their losses are very heavy and it may take them one or two months to recover, particularly those from Jalan Yew Chai Toh which was hit worst by the recent floods.

“It may take at least 48 days for them to grow and produce crops for sale. With significant incurred losses, they have requested for some subsidies from the government.

“On the spot, I did promise the affected farmers that I would make use of my MRP grant of RM50,000 for them to buy fertilisers, pesticides, and so forth.

“We try to help as much as possible, but of course, priority will be given to those who are very badly affected,” said Soon Koh.

Soon Koh, who is also the Progressive Democratic Party (PDP) senior vice president, told this to reporters when met after presenting the agricultural aid to the farmers in Sungai Bidut here today.

He noted that he was also informed during the dialogue session that over 100 farming households in the Sungai Bidut area were badly affected by the recent floods.

For that, he called upon the state’s Ministry of Food Industry, Commodity, and Regional Development to look into the matter as most of Sibu’s crops producers are from Sungai Bidut.

Als present during the aid presentation ceremony were PDP Bawang Assan chairman Councillor Wong Hua, Sibu Vegetable Planters Association chairman Tieu Kiu Sing, and Soon Koh’s personal assistant, Sean Wong.