LOCAL FRUIT FESTIVAL SRI AMAN 2019
SRI AMAN: The Sarawak government has allocated RM797 million to develop the agriculture sector by 2020.
Welfare and Community Wellbeing Assistant Minister Datuk Francis Harden Hollis said the allocation was for the implementation of various programmes and activities as well as mobilising agricultural policies to drive the state’s agricultural development in line with its target to becoming a major exporter by 2030.
“By achieving the target of being a major exporter by 2030, it will be able to achieve two strategic objectives of the agriculture sector, namely alleviating poverty in Sarawak and bridging rural-urban income gap.
“To achieve these two objectives, two key strategies have been identified — increasing the export of high-value food products and reducing the import of self-produced food products or the importation of alternative food products,” he said.
Harden said this when speaking at the opening of a Local Fruit Festival organised by the Sri Aman Department of Agriculture yesterday.
The Simanggang assemblyman said he was looking into the current situation in Sri Aman, where most areas are grown with commodity crops such as rubber, oil palm, pepper and also some potential food crops to generate income for the rural population.
He cited fruits such as durian, banana, pineapple, coconut and rambutan as having potential to be marketed overseas.
“For your information, last year 121 MT Rambutan Anak Sekolah from Sri Aman Division were exported overseas generating RM242,000 in revenue.
“This year the Sri Aman Department of Agriculture in collaboration with the Federal Agricultural Marketing Authority (Fama) will formulate another sale and purchase agreement for Rambutan Anak Sekolah and, in turn, will also contribute to the increase in income for rural farmers,” he said.
Harden said Sarawak also exported 12 tonnes of tilapia fish from Batang Ai to Singapore.
“This shows that the Sri Aman division has the potential to be a driving force in the agriculture sector in Sarawak,” he said.
Harden said the agriculture sector in Sarawak contributed RM16.5bln or 12.4 per cent to Sarawak’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and food crops accounted for less than two per cent in 2018.
He hoped that the Local Fruit Festival would make Simanggang town one of the local fruits producing areas in the state.
“I hope this successful programme will benefit farmers…to increase their income and further develop the agricultural industry,” he said.
