KUALA LUMPUR: The Federal Agricultural Marketing Authority (FAMA) is targeting to record sales of RM3.1 million and savings of RM300,000 for the Jualan Terus Dari Ladang (JTDL) programme for the first quarter of this year.

FAMA deputy director-general (Operations) Abdul Rashid Bahri said the JTDL programme recorded savings of RM1.6 million last year with total sales of RM16.29 million, involving 7,586 entrepreneurs in 1,031 locations nationwide.

"JTDL aims to help farmers sell their produce directly to consumers who can enjoy great savings," he told reporters at the JTDL programme at the FAMA headquarters, here today.

On the JTDL programme today, Abdul Rashid said more than 3,000 visitors were recorded to have attended the one-day event that offered a variety of agricultural products including durian, rose melon, chicken eggs, chicken and cooking oil.

In another development, Abdul Rashid said FAMA seeks to market more than 1.4 million eggs every week across the country through the Egg Intervention programme which started in December last year.

He said through the programme, chicken eggs from states on the west coast of the peninsula such as Melaka will be marketed nationwide, especially in Kelantan, Terengganu and Pahang which experienced a drop in supply due to the recent floods.

Meanwhile, Abdul Rashid said demand for some items such as cabbage, tomato, coconut, radish, cucumber, chilli and potato, was expected to increase ahead of the Chinese New Year celebration.

He said FAMA, through its subsidiary, FAMA Corporation Sdn Bhd would work with the industry or importers from China and Indonesia as well as suppliers from Cameron Highland to ensure a sufficient supply of cabbage during the festive season.

"FAMA always makes sure that it will be able to meet the demand of the local market and these items will be distributed through 40 FAMA operation centres, FAMA retail outlets and local retailers throughout the country," he said adding that the price of the items was set by the Ministry of Domestic Trade and Cost of Living.