Sedia to develop 1,000 acres in Pitas for shrimp farming
Published on: Friday, January 24, 2014
Kota Kinabalu: Sabah Economic Development and Investment Authority (Sedia), through facilitation of the Agropolitan Pitas, will develop 1,000 acres in Pitas for shrimp farming and a processing plant. This project in Telaga, which is one of the projects under Sabah Development Corridor (SDC), is meant to improve local household income through aquaculture-based economic development, and has had its Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) approved by the Department of Environment in November 2013. The project site is located adjacent to another project involved in aquaculture development by Yayasan Sabah through its joint venture partner, Sunlight Inno Seafood Sdn Bhd.
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As the one-stop authority to drive forward the SDC, Sedia is facilitating the development of the project, while investment through a private company will kick-start the project's efforts. An Entry Point Project (EPP) listed in the Regional Cities and Corridors programme, the Agropolitan project will help to eradicate poverty in the area by increasing the income of 400 hardcore poor households. The EPP is expected to create 1,200 new job opportunities, of which 400 will be in shrimp farming and 800 in processing activities. It will develop the shrimp aquaculture industry by boosting the State's shrimp exports with annual production of 10,000 tonnes of shrimp from its 318 ponds. The project will attract RM250 million of private investment over the next seven years.
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In addition to shrimp farming-related activities, the Agropolitan project also involves sea cucumber community farming.The sea cucumber farming activities are conducted in the Mapan-Mapan, Pagasaon, Mengkubau Laut and Malubang villages, with currently 50 participants from households below the poverty line. Fifty units of system farms and four units of core farms will be developed, following a 15 month cycle with an estimated production of 100 metric tonnes a year.
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Hand-over of the Agropolitan Pitas project's sea cucumber farming activities at Kampung Mapan-Mapan, Pitas on October 17, 2013 was officiated by Datuk Rayner Datuk Stuel Galid, State Fisheries Director. The communities around Pitas also benefit from SDC initiatives through the rubber tree clusters project. The clusters will utilise new latex timber clones that allows for more latex to be farmed and also higher quality rubber timber, and is under the guidance of the Sabah Rubber Industry Board. The project will focus on the most rural areas of Pitas in order to bridge the income gap, by introducing participants to a higher value commodity while also further developing and promoting latex timber clones. Stay up-to-date by following Daily Express’s Telegram channel.
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