SABAH TO HOST NATION'S LARGEST LIVESTOCK CENTRE

KENINGAU: SABAH will have the country's largest livestock centre when the 834ha Keningau Livestock Integrated Centre here (KILC) located in Sook is fully operational by next year.

The KILC is a flagship project under the Sabah Development Corridor (SDC) aimed at increasing the population of high-quality yield cows, and also to develop a sustainable breeding structure for cattle.

The centre is expected to have 2,000 dairy cattle producing six million litres of milk annually.

"That sounds like a lot of milk," quipped Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak when officiating at the ground-breaking ceremony, Saturday.

About 5,000, people attended the ceremony. Present were Chief Minister Datuk Seri Musa Aman and Brunei Darussalam Education Minister Pehin Datuk Seri Dr Awang Abu Bakar Apong.

The dairy products would be distributed to the people of Sabah, in Peninsular Malaysia as well as Brunei, he said, and hoped it would spur the nation's aspiration of becoming a prime dairy centre in the region in future.

"This project looks to be a successful one. It is also part of our strategy for rural development, which the Government is vehemently undertaking," he said.

The centre is expected to start producing its first batch of milk next year, with an average of 12 litres a day.

"We have a clear road map, and know all our people's hardships and needs because we have a sufficient data base," he said.

He cited Keningau dairy millionaire Datuk Yap Yun Fook as an example, who started with only two cows and RM1,000 in the 80s and now has a 110 hectare high-tech farm placing him as the largest breeder and dairy farmer in the country, and urged the audience to emulate him.

Meanwhile, an agreement was also sealed at the ceremony between the Sabah Economic Development and Investment Authority (Sedia) and the Brunei Investment Agency (BIA) for collaborations in livestock breeding and agriculture.

As part of the agreement, Najib said the BIA, through its subsidiary Annam Corporation, will invest RM120mil in the KILC.

Dr Awang Abu said the agreement reflected the Brunei government's confidence in lucrative investments in Malaysia through the SDC.

Musa said the KILC is estimated to generate investment opportunities in the region of RM763mil for the interior areas, and thus would become a catalyst for agriculture and agro-based development in the country, in general, and specifically Sabah.

Confident that through BIA participation there would be more employment opportunities generated and thus stimulate further the economic growth in this region, he said the signed agreement also a further proof of the foreign investors' confidence on the investment potentials in Sabah, specifically through the SDC programmes.

"I believe the sealed agreement would open up more avenues for both parties to explore various other fields that have high potential to be developed for joint benefits," he said.