14 May 2013| last updated at 12:43AM
By OLIVIA MIWIL | olivia@news.com.my
9 CORE PROGRAMMES: RM305m investment to be made to boost padi cultivation
KOTA KINABALU: THE Sabah Agriculture and Food Industry Ministry's new direction will see improvement in the production of food and other commodities by 2020.
Its minister, Datuk Seri Yahya Hussin, in revealing the nine outline core programmes here yesterday, said the government would make additional investments in padi cultivation and rubber production.
The ministry will focus on a new 4,500ha field in the Kota Belud district for the commercial production of padi.
"We have also appointed the district farmers association as the operator of the project. The investment, worth RM305 million, is expected to yield an average of 5.5 tonnes of padi per ha by 2018," said Yahya, who is also deputy chief minister.
Kota Belud, which is 65km from here, is currently producing 40,300 tonnes of padi from a 12,200ha field. As for the rubber industry, the government will inject RM504 million to redevelop 36,000ha of abandoned rubber smallholdings.
"It will widen the existing area to 130,000ha, which will also better the management of small-scale rubber tappers around the area," he said, adding that 12,000 workers would be brought in for the production of 2,000kg rubber per ha a year.
Yahya also said there were plans by the ministry to increase the incomes of farmers, breeders and fishermen to at least RM2,000 a month within seven years.
The ministry, via several government agencies, will implement programmes that will encourage those in the agriculture sector to take the biotechnology approach and focus on value-added products.
As of now, the state has 195 farmers-turned-entrepreneurs, who are earning a monthly income of more than RM5,000 each.
"We will identify more of these potential entrepreneurs and provide them with essential training.
"The state targets another 100 business-minded people to be in this field in the next five years."
Yahya added that the ministry's existing five permanent fruit production parks in the state were expected to create 3,290 job opportunities, with a gross national income of RM3,915 million by 2020.
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