Agriculture, Agro-based and Rural Development Committee chairman Samsolbari Jamali said the state government is in the final stages of approving the committee, which could be announced this month.

Samsolbari told FMT the committee will be chaired by the menteri besar and its members will include representatives of relevant agencies, industry players and academics.

He said the committee will prioritise the issue of the ratio of land used in the agriculture and commodities sector in Johor. The state government plans to review this ratio as the two sectors have become imbalanced.

Samsolbari also said the committee will discuss food security involving the agriculture industry in view of Johor’s large contributions to the nation in this sector.

“Many in Johor have become major producers of certain food supplies and many Johoreans themselves do not know this. This is also an effort to make Johor the ‘food basket’ of Malaysia,” he said.