Agriculture Becomes 3rd Major Economic Growth Catalyst

KUALA LUMPUR, March 31 (Bernama) -- The Agriculture industry has become the third major economic growth catalyst under the leadership of Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi.

Riding on the motto of "agriculture is business", the new approach has enable the agriculture produce to penetrate new markets abroad, recording an average increase of 13 per cent yearly from 2003 to July 2008.

"With the added value, the real value of the agriculture sector rose from RM33 billion in 2003 to RM40 billion in 2008," according to the Report on the Initiatives and Achievements of the Malaysian Government from Nov 2003 to March 2009, issued by the Prime Minister's Department here today.

Capitalising on modern technology including biotechnology and information and communication technology to increase quality yield, the agriculture sector has produced many budding entrepreneurs.

"A total of 7,258 agrobusiness entrepreneurs have emerged during the period while 996 existing ones registered an increase in earning with a minimum income of RM2,000 per month," it said.

The report said 45 permanent food parks covering 3,800ha have been developed involving 789 participants while 17,400ha have been planted with vegetables under contract farming by 10,600 participants.

Under the National Food Safety Policy, the government has increased food supply especially rice.

The Abdullah administration has empowered the industry by assisting the downstream companies to make breakthrough in the international market especially the European Union countries.

The government has also provided incentives to encourage investments in the Malaysian halal hubs by offering the pioneer status, tax holiday and investment duty allowances.

An integrated park for halal downstream products has also been set up.

The government had also developed the National Animal Embryo Centre two years ago to stock the farms of breeders in the country with high quality breeds of the Boer goat.

The Abdullah administration has launched the corridor development to correct the imbalance in the development by accommodating the agriculture sector.

They are the Iskandar Malaysia (2006-2025), the Northern Corridor Economic Region (2007-2025), the East Coast Economic Corridor (2007-2020), the Sabah Development Corridor (2008-2025) and the Sarawak Corridor of Renewable Energy (2008-2030).

-- BERNAMA