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Chief Minister Datuk Seri Musa Aman (second left) says syabas to the winner (Boer) Goat. Onlooking are Minister of Youths and Sports Datuk Tawfiq Abu Bakar (left), Deputy Chief Minister cum Minister of Agriclture and Food Industry Datuk Seri Yahya Hussin (fourth from left) , Federal Secretary Dato’ Abu Bakar Hassan (second right) and State Secretary Tan Sri Sukarti Wakiman (right). |
KOTA KINABALU: Farmers, breeders and fishermen should not hesitate to seek advice
from government agencies involved in agriculture sector.
Chief Minister
Datuk Seri Musa Aman said they should always look for new technology, learn new
techniques to increase production and value added products.
“As such they
should not hesitate to seek help from state or national government agencies
such as Federal Agriculture Marketing Agency (FAMA), Agriculture Bank or
Agriculture department.”
He was launching
the Farmers, Breeders and Fishermen Day Celebration at Tg Aru this morning.
Musa said
the state government placed great emphasis on agriculture along with
other sectors such as tourism.
“Sabah is blessed
with vast land and natural resources. We must fully utilise our land for
agricultural products to get more yield , more income, employment and
profit ,” he said.
Musa said Sabah,
with its 1.3 million hectares of oil palm plantation, is the largest
producer of CPO in Malaysia.
Sabah is
also the largest producer of dairy milk, producing 10 million litres per year,
he added.
He said Kota Belud
has been identified as the potential place to be the rice bowl of Sabah as it
had vast land suitable for padi cultivation.
“With sufficient
rice production, we should be able to reduce the dependence on imported rice,”
Musa said.
Earlier, in his
welcome speech Minister of Agriculture and Food Industry Datuk Seri Haji Yahya
Hussin said the agriculture sector is given greater importance to reduce the import
of food products which stood currently at RM2.9 billion.
Yahya said this
figure increased every year and the government had taken initiatives to
introduce modern technology to increase agriculture production.
“The government,
under the Economic Transformation Programme (ETP) is
encouraging farmers to diversify their products by giving
incentives,” he said.
Later, Musa gave
away prizes to “High Achievers” who were adjudged best performers for 2013 in
their chosen field of agriculture.
Musa and Yahya
then visited the special booths and expo centres set up specially for the four
day function.
The event was also
attended by the Speaker of State Assembly Datuk Seri Salleh Tun said, the
Federal secretary Dato’ Abu Bakar Hassan, the State Secretary Tan Sri Sukarti
Wakiman, Minister of Youths and Sports Datuk Tawfiq Abu Bakar and other
dignitaries.-END/PENERANGAN