PUTRAJAYA (March 6): The People’s Income Initiative (IPR) programme has drawn 22,319 registrations, with Selangor topping the list at 34% of all applicants, since it was launched on Feb 26.

Economy Minister Rafizi Ramli said 52% of all registrations are for the Food Entrepreneur Initiative (Insan), 29% for the Agro Entrepreneur Initiative (Intan) and 19% for the Services Operator Initiative (Ikhsan). Meanwhile, there were 376 off-takers for the programme.

After Selangor, Johor saw the highest number of applications at 11% of all registrations, followed by Perak (9%) and Kuala Lumpur (8.5%).

“We will focus on getting more participation from states with lower participation, especially states with the most extreme poverty,” Rafizi told the press during a media briefing on Monday (March 6), following the release of the consumer price index for January 2023 .

He said some of the poorest districts in Malaysia are in Sabah, Kelantan, and Terengganu. So far, Sabah comprised 5.7% of the IPR registrations, Kelantan made up 1.7% and Terengganu accounted for 1.5%.

The ministry had launched IPR with the aim to increase the income of the hardcore poor and the B40 group to at least RM2,000 a month.

The IPR initiative involving three main categories — Intan, Insan and Ikhsan — aimed at overcoming the people’s daily economic problems like shortage of agriculture products, high price of ready-to-eat foodstuff and difficulties securing workers for certain sectors.

Under the Intan initiative, the government will open up 800 acres (323.7ha) of federal government land to offer an opportunity to be involved in agricultural activities and to focus on crops that have a high volume of trade and demand.

Rafizi on Monday said the first Intan site will be launched in the first week of April for the first 20 recipients.