21/02/2008 (Borneo Bulletin), Kota Kinabalu - Sabah Chief Minister Datuk Musa Aman said the development of the oil palm industry in Sabah will continue to be given priority by the State government. Based on the projection of the agriculture land estimated at 2.2million hectares, about 1.8 million had been identified suitable for oil palm plantations.

Musa attributed the increasing size of oil palm plantations in Sabah to the political stability as well as steps taken by the State government to encourage its growth apart from involvement of government agencies in developing agriculture lands.

In his speech at the closing of the Sabah Oil Palm Expo here read out by Tourism Minister Datuk Masidi Manjun, Datuk Musa said a high market price of the commodity saw oil palm industry players including smallholders earnings huge profit and it also generated export income of RM45.1 billion for the country last year 41.18 per cent more than the previous year.

He said the State government will continue to facilitate growth of the industry in Sabaha. This make the people proud that Sabah has the biggest oil palm plantation in the country with 1.24 million hectare apart from being the nation's main palm oil producer.