KUCHING: More Sarawakians are encouraged to venture into agriculture and farming.
Deputy Minister II for Modernisation of Agriculture and Regional Development Martin Ben said this would help Sarawak achieve its goal of being a net food and food product exporter by 2030.
Moreover, he said this would also allow the state to become a quality and quantity food producer, instead of relying heavily on imports.
“At the same time, we also want to see our farming products as one of the biggest contributors to the state’s Growth Domestic Products (GDP).
“This is because right now, oil palm contributes to almost 40 per cent of the overall agriculture sector.
“Therefore, we want to push for other agricultural produce, especially cash crop,” he said during the opening of the Gardenscapes Sarawak 2022: A Gardening and Farming Expo at CityOne Megamall on Friday (March 25).
Among the cash crops, he said, were corn and this was important to help the state reduce its import bill on animal feed.
“We have over RM100mil import bill for animal feed. Imagine if we can reduce that by 20 per cent with local farmers producing 20 per cent of it, then we can save about RM20mil to RM40mil.
“Therefore, we want to see more people take part in agriculture and farming as there is a lot of opportunities in these areas.”
