MEET THE PRESS: Zainal (centre), Abdul Rashid (left) and Arpan (right) pose for a photo after their meeting at Grand Dorsett Labuan Hotel.
LABUAN: This island still has to depend on food supply from Sabah even though there are some initiatives to reduce the reliance from the mainland, said Farmers Association Board of Directors chairman Dato’ Haji Zainal Dahalan.
Disclosing this after chairing the Board of Directors meeting here on Monday, Zainal said the initiative was to run the chicken production centre at Kampung Rancha-Rancha here.
“Initially, the project which could process around 3,200 chickens per day had to be stopped due to the problem of getting the halal certification from the Malaysian Islamic Development Department (Jakim).
“Alhamdulillah, the project is now going to be continued with another allocation of RM244,000, with a new equipment and can produce around 400 chickens per hour,” he said.
Currently, the chicken farm is located at Bukit Timbalai, Kampung Sungai Miri with a production capacity of 10,000 chickens in three months and that an additional budget of RM400,000 will be provided.
The livestock at Bukit Timbalai will be sent to the production centre at Kampung Rancha-Rancha to be processed further before being sold at the market.
“The Farmers Association has a significant role in order to realise the government’s aspirations to increase the country’s food supply and production.“We want all the members of Regional Farmers Association (PPK) to contribute towards increasing food supply such as vegetables, fruits, paddy and livestock including chickens and goat,” Zainal said when commenting on the soaring price of vegetables at the market here.
The association will implement some plans in the future to multiply the vegetable production here. “The concept of eating what you planted and planting what you eat will be introduced here in this island in order to reduce the household expenses. “One of them is to boost the hydroponic system among the PPK members here and some other ways,” he said.
In reply to a reporter’s question, Zainal said the Farmers Association development budget under the 10th Malaysian Plan was under its rolling plan, with RM29.7 million allocation to the association to implement its programmes in the country.
The association was given an allocation budget of RM16.33 million for this year and another RM13.37 million for next year, Zainal.
He added that Sabah alone received about RM3.5 million government allocation in this year and another RM2.76 million for next year for agriculture and livestock development in the State.
“Those budget will be used to fund big projects for farmers in agriculture and livestock by increasing their production capacity,” he said.
Zainal said that with such a huge sum of money, the Farmers Association was now focusing on investing heavily, vastly in producing more vegetables, livestock, aquaculture and fruits, and also by providing more training to farmers.
The association’s Board of Directors also proposed to set up new offices for Regional Farmers Association in Nabawan, Tongod and Putatan. Also present were chairman of National Farmers Association (NAFAS), Tan Sri Haji Abdul Rashid Haji Abdul Rahman and the director general of Farmers Association Board of Directors Dato’ Arpan Shah Satu.