Big Sabah potential as fruit, veggie producer
Published on: Monday, March 18, 2019
By: Zam Yusa
PAPAR: Sabah has potential to become major fruit and vegetable producers that could meet the needs of big Middle East markets such as Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the UAE if land owners are made aware of their potential, Chief Minister Datuk Seri Shafie Apdal said.
Speaking to reporters during a meet-the-people session here, Shafie said Sabah has big and fertile land that needs to be tapped into, but sadly a lot of land is left idle.
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“There’s a lot of land owned by the people that is left overgrown, so we need to create awareness among landowners and develop land on a major scale, for example by planting fruits and vegetables,” he said.
“During the haj and umrah season, a lot of fruits are needed in Saudi Arabia and also in Dubai (in the UAE) and Qatar.
“In Sabah, fruits and vegetables can be harvested very quickly, like in a month’s time, compared to seven years for oil palm and 30 years for timber.”
“Fruits and vegetables can give a very fast yield and fetch a good income. For example, the price for of red chili is RM9 to RM11 per kilogramme.”
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Instead of relying on handouts to make a living, Shafe said people also need education and skills that meet current industry needs, therefore, the planned creation of an education hub in Papar is timely.
“The automotive and oil industry are growing, therefore to train our youths for jobs in such fields, we need more [technical] schools that will equip them with the right skills,” he said.
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“Therefore, we need more training centres and I’ve asked Datuk Dr Yusuf [Yacob, State Education and Innovation Minister] to identify suitable places in Papar.”
Shafie also reiterated the need to help document paperless children whose parent or parents is/are Sabahans, not of those parents who are foreigners.
“This is the purview of the Home Ministry but I fully support the efforts to help such children,” he said.
“Afterall, they’re children of at least a Sabahan parent, if not of Sabahan parents. Some Sabahans marry a foreigner or people from the peninsular.
“But for some reason, they don’t have a marriage certificate and therefore, their children don’t have birth certificates.
“Why can’t we help such children? Why should we ill-treat them? It’s not children whose parents are both foreigners, that’s different.”
Shafie also said the State Government will obtain detailed information on the detention of rice from Vietnam at Sepanggar port by the Royal Malaysian Customs Department (JKDM) recently.
Shafie said he could comment on the next move as the matter was under the jurisdiction of the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Agro-based Industry.
“I will get the facts in detail about this. I can not say anything because at the beginning I understand this rice was for transhipment but rice is under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Agriculture.’
Asked whether the Sabah Government will play a part in the matter, Shafie said: “We’ll see first if there is a need, we will help as well.”
Shafie was commenting on the seizure of 351 containers of rice at Sepanggar Port which was supposed to be sent to Vietnam.
On Tuesday, the Sabah Cross Border Trade Association (SCBTA) expressed concern Sabah would face a loss of RM2 billion a year if the matter was not resolved. The rice is understood to be on its way to the Southern Philippines.
Earlier during the “Sentuhan Kasih dan Kenduri Sekampung” session in a mosque ground in Kampung Kuala, Shafie performed Friday prayers and had lunch with the people.
He later handed over assistance including food and fishing equipment to people in need.
Shafie also visited a family in the village whose dilapidated house was being repaired thanks to help by concerned parties including troops from the army and Wataniah.
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