Penang: The Malaysian Cooperatives Commission (SKM) is urging cooperatives across the nation to explore the agrofood, wholesale, and retail sectors to enhance the country’s production capabilities.

According to BERNAMA News Agency, SKM’s deputy chief executive officer, Datuk Amran Abd Kadir, emphasized the potential benefits of this initiative, noting its capacity to support government efforts to provide affordable prices for essential goods, particularly in the food sector. “Now SKM is focusing more on cooperatives that offer agrofood, we follow the current government policy because we want cooperatives to help offer and produce food products to rely less on foreign sources,” he explained. By producing food products locally, cooperatives can increase their members’ income while offering consumers lower or reasonable prices. For instance, some cooperatives participating in the MADANI Sale provide goods at prices 20 percent cheaper than usual.

Amran made these remarks at the Penang Cooperative Movement 2025 Aidilfitri Reception at Anjung Mutiara, which was also attended by the state Agrotechnology, Food Security and Cooperative Development Committee chairman, Fahmi Zainol. He further highlighted that SKM is offering secured financing of up to RM3 million to cooperatives engaged in the agrofood programme. This credit facility is intended to be utilized as working capital for the development of agrofood projects.

The deputy CEO pointed out that involving cooperatives in agro-food projects could address food supply challenges, as there are currently 16,307 cooperatives with 7.2 million members nationwide. “If many cooperatives are involved in the agro-food sector, they will certainly be part of this food chain, in terms of supply and guaranteeing the country’s food security,” he stated.

Fahmi added that in the previous year, cooperatives in Penang received RM860,000 in grants and RM3.37 million in loans. He expressed hope that this year, the state’s cooperatives would receive more than RM1 million in grants from SKM to encourage further involvement in agro-food, especially given the impact of global socio-economic issues and tariffs on regional food supply.

He also noted that Penang is home to 820 cooperatives with 175,186 members, holding shares and fees amounting to RM263 million, along with assets valued at RM1.1 billion.