KPD putting hope on agro-biotech products: Rahim

Kota Kinabalu: Agriculture and Food Industry Minister, Datuk Abdul Rahim Ismail is counting on agro-biotech products to bolster the financial standing of Koperasi Pembangunan Desa (KPD).A Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to put this into effect was signed between KPD and DXN Holdings Bhd, which is to introduce these projects at Wisma Pertanian here, Thursday.

"Our main concern is for KPD to improve its financial position by exposing the agency to diversified new-commercial agro-based projects that will derive better income to rehabilitate its weakening status," said Rahim.

"Therefore, by having the MoU, KPD and DXN will combine expertise and technology to produce health food products as a result of utilising agro-biotechnology," he said.

KPD General Manager, Datu Basrun Hj. Datu Mansor signed the MoU representing the agency under the ministry while DXN Holdings Berhad was represented by its Executive Chairman, Dato' Dr. Lim Siow Jin.

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He added that all KPD assets including land and existing resources would be utilised by DXN for the agro-biotech projects.

In this respect, Rahim disclosed that over 100 hectares of land in Kundasang are ready to be developed commercially to produce the Shiitake mushroom on a large scale.

"Presently, the land is cultivated with the mushroom by farmers who receive assistance from KPD.

"So, when DXN comes in, it will introduce their technology to upgrade the production of the mushroom into a large scale one, commercially," he said.

According to Rahim, Lim has projected that the mass production of Shiitake mushroom and Ganoderma (Ling Zhi) would generate revenues of few hundred million ringgit a year.

Lim also expressed confidence that Sabah can be a major producer of both types of mushroom in Sabah considering the year-long climate that is very conducive for cultivating the mushroom and available basic infrastructure to transport the products to the airport which only takes about two hours from the farms.

Hence, Rahim said: "If KPD can capture about 10 per cent of the projected high returns, then it is good enough to improve the status of the agency as it is aiming to stop relying on government for funding its core business activities.

"As of now, KPD is just breaking-even. Thus, we hope the MoU will help to lift the agency from its weakening status."

He said KPD and DXN will also work together to upgrade the production of honey in Kota Marudu.

"We will also upgrade the existing facilities in Kota Marudu so as to accommodate DXN that is planning a mass production of our high quality pure honey.

"If this materialises, we can project the price of our honey per kg in the world market to be between RM48 and RM50. Currently, a bottle of honey produced by KPD is sold at only RM8 to RM16," he said.

Earlier in the speech, he said the use of new technology like agro-biotech can make the State's agriculture sector more progress and competitive.

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He said many quarters were of the opinion that bio-technology is the answer for the government's efforts in increasing food production and reducing the food bill import.

It is also expected that by next year, 150 to 200 biotech companies including from Sabah, will be operating in a Bio-Valley to commercialise new biotechnology product findings.

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