MELAKA: Several farms resorted to shutting down their operations for two days as they only have chickens of below standard sizes, Melaka Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs Ministry (KPDNHEP) director Norena Jaafar said.

She said the move was not done as a sign of protest as alleged and that they had received notices of the closures, adding that when personnel found that the sizes of chickens were just around 1.1 kilogrammes (kg) to 1.2 kg, compared to 1.8 kg to 2.0 kg, and are not suitable for sale when they conducted an inspection of farms Wednesday.

"But, I feel it is not a problem in terms of supply here because Melaka has two main producers apart from the many small producers available," she told reporters at the Melaka KPDNHEP 'Pengguna Bestari, Sentuhan Kasih Aidilfitri' Programme here yesterday.

A Bernama report published yesterday regarding a memo issued by a farm in Merlimau, Jasin to suppliers notifying them that chicken supply would be stopped on May 21 and 22 because the chickens failed to reach the required weight.

However, Norena stressed that there was no need for consumers to stockpile chickens in large quantities as there was no lack of supply in Melaka.

Such actions, she said, would only cause problems for others as Hari Raya celebrations were still ongoing.

"So, don't panic because there is no chicken supply problem and at the same time, prices are maintained at RM8.90 a kg," she said.

On allegations of flour shortage in the state, she said the supply was still stable with 11 brands of flour that were subsidised available.

"The problem is that most consumers are fixated with one brand. They only know one brand or are used to one brand, even though there are other brands of the same quality available. So, when the supply of the brand they favour runs low, they start to clamour about a flour shortage," she said.

Norena also said they detected that subsidised flour were being used by traders, along with cooking oil packs.

"Actually, traders must not use subsidised floor and cooking oil packs as they are for the B40 group," she added.

-- BERNAMA