Help for farmers, fishermen to continue – CM

KOTA KINABALU: Chief Minister Datuk Seri Musa Aman has assured those involved in the agriculture sector of continued government assistance so that they will have better success.

“The agriculture sector is very important to the state and the government is giving it priority which is clearly seen in the RM463.01 million allocated to the sector in the state 2013 budget.

“The huge allocation reflects the government’s commitment in wanting maximum development for the sector,” he said in his speech at the state-level annual Farmers, Livestock Breeders and Fishermen Day celebration yesterday.

“The assumption that the agriculture sector is something small and only for self-sustainability must be discarded because it is in fact a very profitable sector which can bring good opportunities.

“Although farmers, livestock breeders and fishermen as well as others involved in agriculture are already successful, we will not stop rendering them assistance as we want them to do better.

“This is Barisan Nasional’s (BN) effort to ensure that the rakyat enjoy a better living,” he said.

During the event, Musa also witnessed the signing of a Memorandum Of Understanding (MoU) between the Agriculture and Food Industry Ministry and Kota Belud Farmers’ Association for the implementation of EPP11, which is the development of a paddy granary in Kota Belud.

“At the same time, we are also paying out RM1.6 million to the 762 participants of phase one of the project which is about 800 hectares. An addition of RM1.2 million will also be paid to farmers’ associations as assistance,” he said.

“This is proof of the government’s high commitment in its efforts to ensure that the rakyat, especially farmers have a better life by driving the agriculture sector and paddy planting,” he said.

Speaking to reporters later, Musa disclosed that the federal government had allocated RM338 million for the EPP11 paddy granary project in Kota Belud.

“Sabah currently has 35,000 hectares of land planted with paddy and 10,000 hectares are in Kota Belud,” he said, adding that with the allocation of RM338 million, efforts to increase paddy production of the 5,000 hectares of fields in Kota Belud would be implemented.

“We hope to be able to increase paddy production to 8.5 tonnes a hectare by 2020 through innovation such as mechanization, new technology and high yielding paddy,” he said.

He added that the state and federal governments were ever ready to assist in any way they could to see that the farmers, livestock breeders and fishermen improve their production and income.

“Every year we have this celebration as a recognition to them because they play an important role in ensuring that the state has a steady food supply. Therefore various new methods, innovation and technology have been introduced as means to increase production and income.

“We also want to see you all become more progressive and competitive and we urge the award recipients to be role models to their peers so that they will work hard to attain similar success as the high achievers,” he said.

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