State to establish food crop plantations outside SCORE, emulate Taiwan’s success story
KUCHING: The state government plans to establish permanent food production areas outside Sarawak Corridor of Renewable Energy (SCORE) area.
Chief Minister Pehin Sri Abdul Taib Mahmud said the projects were coconut plantations at Sungai Papa, fertigation at Paya Paloh and Rampangi, fruits and vegetables plantations at Semongok, Sessang and Kabuloh as well as aquaculture at Batang Ai and Tanjung Manis.
He said this plan was to complement the setting up of 12,700 hectares of food basket in SCORE area under the Agriculture Strategy 2012-2020 plan, which involved the plantation of fruits, vegetables, seasonal and perennial crops, sago, coconut, aquaculture and livestock.
Taib said the Agriculture Strategy 2012-2020 plan by the state government was to increase domestic food production to fulfill the local demand and for export.
“We can take Taiwan’s experience in developing their agriculture industry as our example. Almost the whole land in Taiwan is planted with various plantations and very little land is unutilised.
“There are plantations which are operated in small land areas but can product high yield. It was the use of high technology that enabled them to generate substantial revenue,” he said when launching the 30th national-level Civil Service Innovative and Creative Group Convention at Borneo Convention Centre Kuching here on Sunday.
Besides a developed agriculture industry, Taib said Taiwan also has world renowned small and medium enterprises (SME), attributing the success of the SME development in the country to strong research and development in various fields.
“The unique thing is the close cooperation between companies and institutions of higher learning in the field of research.”
He said companies in Sarawak can follow the example shown by Taiwan, by establishing close cooperation with institutions of higher learning to develop research in their respective companies.
“Sarawak has many high calibre researchers in various fields and their expertise can be use to develop the local industry.”