MUKAH: Agriculture Assistant Minister Dr Abdul Rahman Ismail yesterday was on a two-day working visit to Mukah Division to look at the locations of agricultural production and food products.
The first location was the Kampung Masjid in Balingian. Here a Kerepek Pisang project and various other snacks of the Halisa brand are being produced.
Its owner Halipah Sihu has been involved in the business since 2009 and has received assistance through the Agro-based Industry Programme (IAT) in 2009, 2013, 2015 and 2019.
She has now reached the Third Level of annual sales, having posted total sale of close to RM700,000 in 2018 and successfully penetrating the Brunei market.
She is going for the Fourth Level, and Dr Abdul Rahman has directed the Sarawak Department of Agriculture to assist Halipah in obtaining ‘Makanan Selamat Tanggungjawab Industri’ (MeSTI) and halal certificates in hope that she could hit RM1 million in sale.
The second location visited was the Permanent Food Production Parks (TKPM) of Penipah in Mukah-Balingian Road which has just started operating this year.
The TKPM has 14 participants divided into 12 lots with each lot covering 3.5 hectares.
Dr Abdul Rahman visited Tiong Kung Sing’s lot, which cultivates watermelons using modern machinery and is now entering its second round of harvest.
The first round of harvest has produced 40 tonnes worth RM60,000 with the market extending all the way to Bintulu.
He also visited the white shrimp pond owned by Maliki @ Sulhamid Sait who has four ponds althogether – one for shrimp, two for tilapia and another for siakap.
The shrimp pond is operated for harvest twice a year with each harvest producing up to 15 tonnes of shrimps for markets extending to Bintulu and Sibu.
On average, Maliki earns RM30,000 a month and his business receives assistance through the Aquaculture Entrepreneurship Programme (PUA) worth RM100,000 in 2018 from the Agriculture Department. He aims to increase the number of ponds by applying for capital from the state government’s venture capital fund.
The last location visited was sago-based products manufacturing factory which produces Sagu Medong, Sagu Ngiur, Sagu Kombo and Sagu Tumpik owned by Masinah Paris.
The sago factory began operation in 2005 with a wide range of assistance under the IAT programme.
The product is traditionally manufactured by using pans made of soil and wood as fuel.
Market is all over Sarawak with increasing revenue hitting RM280,000 a year.
The visit was also attended by Balingian assemblyman Abdul Yakub Arbi and several officials from related ministries and departments.
