Balung animal feed mill to be catalyst: CM
Published on: Tuesday, June 28, 2016
Tawau: The construction of an oil palm-based Balung Animal Feed Mill (BAFM), near here, by Kumpulan Sawit Kinabalu will be the catalyst to the growth of the livestock industry which is one of the important sectors for economic growth for Sabah and the country.Chief Minister Datuk Seri Musa Aman said such development is also in line with the State's halatuju to increase food supply and reduce reliance on imported meat. "Production of livestock feedlot from the factory could reduce importation of meat and cut down the flow of exchange currency and the most important thing is that this establishment could boost the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of the nation," he said, after officiating the Balung Animal Feed Mill, Monday.ADVERTISEMENT Also present were Deputy Chief Minister cum Agriculture and Food Industry Minister Datuk Seri Yahya Hussin, State Tourism, Culture and Environment Minister Datuk Masidi Manjun and Sawit Kinabalu Group Director Datuk Othman Walat. Musa also welcomed the bold move by the Sawit Kinabalu Group to venture into the new field (building the BAFM) as an effort to expand their core businesses. Apart from helping other livestock breeders get supply of animal feed, he said the government-linked company (GLC) will soon be harvesting their oil palm yield through rearing cows for beef via the feedlot concept."Sawit Kinabalu now has about 10,000 cattle to produce beef and it is expected to increase to 20,000 by 2018.ADVERTISEMENT "Therefore, we are encouraging other agencies to make efforts and initiatives to look for new discoveries in food material that can be used for animal feed that will help other breeders and increase the GLC's income," Musa said. Othman said at initial stage, BAFM will be producing 15,600 metric tonne of the animal feed for a year in which its quality is at par with the animal imported from other countries and it will be marketed at competitive price.
ADVERTISEMENT
Stay up-to-date by following Daily Express’s Telegram channel.
Daily Express Malaysia
The raw material is derived from oil palm waste such as the fronds and kernel, among others, in which the supply of this material is ample and can easily obtained from oil palm plantations and mills.By having the BAFM, he said, they believed the target of increasing the number of 10,000 beef cattle to 20,000 cattle by 2018 could be achieved.