KOTA KINABALU – The Agriculture and Food Industries Ministry (Mafi) and the Sabah Agriculture and Fisheries Ministry has formed a steering committee to develop the agro-food sector in Sabah to ensure food security in the state.
Mafi Minister Datuk Seri Ronald Kiandee said that several memorandums of understanding (MoUs) have been signed between Putrajaya and Kota Kinabalu to ensure that Sabah will take its agro-food industry to the next level, in line with the aspirations of Sabah Maju Jaya.
“The federal government and the state government are working together and have taken several steps to ensure that we achieve our objective.
“Other than forming the steering committee, we had also signed several MoUs that include all angles of food security, such as food safety, production and marketing,” he said at a press conference today.
He said that Mafi has allocated about RM135 million to boost the development of the agro-food sector in the state.
Earlier, the minister had witnessed the MoU signing between the Malaysian Agricultural Research and Development Institute and Universiti Malaysia Sabah.
The two institutions have agreed to step up research and development projects through smart agriculture and the development of the imaging monitoring system application for crop growth performance.
At the same time, two other MoUs were signed on the same day including the MoU between Mafi, Sabah agriculture ministry, and Malaysian Pineapple Industry Board (LPNM) as well as an MoU between Agrobank and Sabah Economic Development Corporation on the Sabah Agro-Industrial Precinct.
Ronald said that Sabah has a huge potential to develop a pineapple industry, which is currently lacking behind West Malaysia and Sarawak.
“For the first time, we have produced an understanding to start (the development of a pineapple sector) in Sabah. As a start, Mafi is channelling RM1 million for this purpose. We hope that this first step will be a start for the development of Sabah’s pineapple sector.
“We want to see the pineapple sector in Sabah prosper and become an industry like in West Malaysia,” he said, adding that LPNM will be helping Sabah in terms of finance, expertise, and technology.
The MoU is targeting 1,500ha of pineapple to be planted in Sabah, which will allow the state to produce 200,000 metric tonnes of pineapple in five years.
“Sabah’s location is strategic to produce and export agriculture and food products. It is time to think about that ‘dream’ of Sabah becoming an agro-food industry powerhouse in the future,” he added. – The Vibes, April 7, 2022
