Sabah can export meat and dairy by 2011

KOTA KINABALU: Sabah will not only be self-sufficient in mutton and beef production by 2011 but may very likely be an exporter of the food items.

Deputy Chief Minister, Datuk Yahya Hussin said three years from now the government will be able to reduce the cost of importing meat-based and dairy products from Australia and New Zealand that run up to billions of ringgit annually.

“We are also working towards becoming a producer of meat and dairy products for export,” he told reporters after visiting a goat farming project in Jambo, Menggatal near here yesterday.

Accompanying him was director of the Department of Veterinary Services and Animal Industry (DOVSAI), Datuk Haji Awang Sahak Awang Salleh.

Yahya, also the Minister of Agriculture and Food Industry said based on the increasing rate of production in the state, he believed there will be enough meat and dairy to meet local demand by 2011.

The average production rate of kids and calves in all project farms in Sabah now exceed 2,000 a month.

The farm in Jambo alone produces 40 kids monthly and Yahya commended it as an exemplary project under the supervision of Dovsai.

Earlier, Yahya and his entourage also visited a duck farm in Kiansom and urged duck breeders to emulate the success of poultry farmers who not only supply to the local market but export eggs to Brunei and the peninsula.