21/12/05 KUCHING, (Bernama) -- Smallholders in Sarawak, through joint ventures with the private sector, are encouraged to participate in the Integrated Oil Palm Cattle programme in plantations to boost food production, particularly livestock.

Assistant State Agriculture Minister (Research and Coordination) Dublin Unting said Wednesday Sarawak had a competitive edge because it had been declared free of the foot-and-mouth disease besides having big potential to develop its livestock industry for domestic consumption and export.

"Under the Ninth Malaysia Plan, the State Agriculture Department will focus on providing support and technical expertise, in terms of livestock breeding and disease control, to the traditional smallholders so that they are willing to utilise their land under the integrated programme," he said.

He was speaking when opening the Good Animal Husbandry Practices (GAHP) for the Ruminant Sector seminar here, jointly organised by the state Agriculture Department, the Agriculture and Agro-based Industries Ministry and the federal Veterinary Services Department.

It is to extend the national GAHP scheme to Sabah and Sarawak as a quality assurance programme for farmers to upgrade their food production activities, including safe beef and mutton for human consumption.

Unting said that currently 20 oil palm plantations covering 30,000ha and with 40,000 head of cattle were involved in the programme which was introduced in 2000.

Given that the state government planned to double the current oil palm plantation area to one million hectares by 2010, Dublin said potential for the ruminant sector in Sarawak was good.

He said the state's livestock industry was still under-developed compared with that in the peninsula due to its unsuitable hilly terrain and lack of relevant expertise.

As such, there was a need to implement the GAHP scheme to reduce Sarawak's dependence on food imports, for which 95 per cent of its meat was imported, he said.

Meanwhile, the Veterinary Services Department's Livestock Industry Development Division head, Dr P. Loganathan, said that through the scheme, certified farmers who intended to export their products would be at an advantage.

The department had drawn up a few strategies to increase self-sufficiency to 40 per cent by 2015 from 18 per cent at present by reducing the nation's food imports and increasing its current domestic production of 23,000 tonnes a year, he said on the sidelines of the seminar.-- BERNAMA