Sabah biggest milk producer

KOTA KINABALU: Sabah is now the country’s biggest fresh milk producer and it has its sight on developing the fresh milk downstream industry.

Last year, Sabah produced 10 million litres of fresh milk but in future it would produce not only more but also highly diversified and value-added fresh milk downstream products, State Agriculture and Food Industry Minister Datuk Yahya Hussin said.

According to Yahya, strategic plans were already being devised and implemented, including seeking the Malaysia Agriculture Research and Development Institute’s expertise to develop viable value adding and processing mechanism.

“Dairy cattle are among the commodity to be developed under the Sabah Development Corridor (SDC). The aim is not only to increase fresh milk production to 35 million liter/year but also to boost meat production to 1,000 ton metric/year as well as to breed 2,000 dairy cattle/year by 2015,” he said.

Yahya said the Government through SDC has allocated RM130 million for 2009-2010 for developing dairy cattle project in Keningau.

“With various milk products and milk by-products developed, we will be able to further expand this industry and be able to export our products to foreign markets,” he said, adding, Sabah’s dairy products have high potential as they are free from livestock diseases.

He said the Ministry through the Department of Veterinary Services and Animal Industry would continue to play its role in assisting the breeders to improve their operations.