KUALA LUMPUR: A total of 622,726 households have benefitted from the Community Food Bank Programme as of last month.
Deputy Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs Minister Datuk Rosol Wahid told Dewan Rakyat that the assistance involved households from the B40 and extreme poor categories such as residents at low-cost housing areas, victims of disasters and others.
"The programme had also successfully saved and benefitted from 2,310 metric tonnes of leftover food, estimated to be worth RM11.51 million," he said.
He said this in reply to a question by Nik Nazmi Nik Ahmad (Pakatan Harapan-Setiawangsa) who asked on the effectiveness, success, and challenges of the food bank programme in Malaysia to date.
Rasol said until the end of last month, the Food Bank Siswa programme for university students had also managed to feed more than 17, 574 students in 25 higher learning institutions nationwide since it was launched in Feb 2019.
"Throughout the Movement Control Order (MCO), the Food Bank Siswa programme has assisted more than 60,000 students who were stranded in 181 higher learning institutes in the country.
"The aid is to provide students access to food and personal care items at the campus," he said.
Rosol said among the main challenges faced in the implementation of the programme was commitments from sponsors.
This was because several manufactures, corporate companies and supermarkets have been largely affected economically by the Covid-19 pandemic.
He, however, said the ministry was committed to finding sponsors to ensure continuity of the programme.