THE landscape and flowers industry has the potential to be developed in Sabah because the state imported 156.93 tonnes of fresh flowers valued at RM4.9 million last year.
Chief Minister Datuk Seri Hajiji Noor said it would not only reduce the amount of imports but even help improve the economy of the local community.
“This Flower Festival is certainly a platform for flower entrepreneurs and landscapes to share information and experience and conduct ‘business matching’ to develop the floriculture industry in Sabah.
“I also hope the Festival will be able to foster culture and love to the beauty of the flora as well as the practise of landscape activities that are beneficial to the community,” he said, when officiating the 2022 Flower Festival at the Sabah Agricultural Park in Tenom on Sept 4.
He said the Festival at the Sabah Agricultural Park carries the same significance with the potential of attracting more tourists to visit Sabah’s interior, especially Tenom.
“Therefore, this festival needs to be held every year and I want our community to continue to appreciate the importance of plant species conservation as a source of food and a contributor to environmental sustainability,” he said. He said Sabah Agricultural Park as a Biodiversity Centre has more than 1,500 unique species of plants among which are 350 species of orchids as well as hundreds of species of wild ginger and fruits from all over the country.
“With the park’s existence, plants that are unique and only found in Sabah can also be preserved so that it does not disappear just like that. This will also be an attraction for tourists,” he said, adding Sabah Agricultural Park is a superior agriculture-based tourism product in the country.
Since opening to the public on Oct. 1, 2000, some 471,299 domestic and foreign visitors have been to the park or an average of 24,000 people a year before the pandemic.
Meanwhile, Hajiji said the development of food crops is given the same emphasis seeing the rising agricultural prices and value chain disruption due to the pandemic which has had an impact on food security and is a global worry.
“Despite chicken, eggs, fresh milk, fish and various other crops being sufficient, we are still short of rice supply. Our Self Sufficiency Level (SSL) of rice as of 2020 is only at 22.8 percent.
“The Government has and will implement initiatives to increase the State’s SSL. Among the initiatives that will be implemented is to develop 11,000 hectares at the Felda Sahabat Dent Peninsula in Lahad Datu for rice cultivation.
“As an initial step, the Agriculture and Fisheries Ministry through the State Agriculture Department will implement a demonstration plot of rice crops in the area concerned.
“The State Agriculture Department is also actively implementing research and innovation programmes on fruits in the country.
“A variety of Avocado QAV3 and Tarap (Jackfruit) QTRT were launched during the Quoin Hill Tawau Agricultural Research Center open day on 20 Aug.
“I hope more new varieties and agricultural technologies can be produced after this,” he said. In order to drive the development of food crops in the state, several joint ventures with the private sector were also held including signing a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Linaco Sdn Bhd for the development of coconut plantations and the construction of factories to process coconut based products in March last year.
“On August 21, another Notes of Understanding (NoU) was signed between the State Agriculture with PJ Nagus Malaysian Kuwaiti Coconut Farm Investment Co Sdn Bhd (MKIC), a joint venture company under the Federal Finance Ministry.
“This project involves joint ventures related to verification of the authenticity of coconut plant material, technical advisory services and coconut related technology,” he said.
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