Zahari (second from right) with vegetable farmers during a visit to check on produce in Ulu Tiram, Johor.
Johor government hopes to have its own collection, processing, packaging and distribution centre (CPPDC) for ruminants, in an effort to better manage cattle and sheep meat production in the state, says Datuk Zahari Sarip.
The state agriculture, agro-based industry and rural development committee chairman said currently, cattle and sheep were being slaughtered on a small scale and sent elsewhere to be processed.
“Once we have our own CPPDC, we will be able to integrate the various aspects – slaughtering, processing, packaging and selling of meat – within a single complex,” he said.
He revealed that the state government was looking at building two CPPDCs in Johor through a joint venture with the private sector.
On the location of the CPPDCs, he said ideally, one should be built in the north of the state while another in the central zone.
Each CPPDC was estimated to cost RM12mil, he added.
“I was told that the slaughtering of at least 200 heads of cattle is done every three months,” said Zahari.
He said the state government hoped to propose to the Federal Government the setting up of the CPPDCs, through Agriculture and Food Industries Ministry.
He highlighted that there was now a CPPDC for vegetables and fruits through a joint venture with J-Biotech in Desaru, with an investment of RM5mil by the government and another RM7mil by the private sector.
“We expect the ground-breaking ceremony for this project to be held in the coming months,” he said during an interview in Johor Baru.
On boosting meat supply, Zahari said the state hoped to work with major oil palm plantations to allow for the rearing of cattle within these estates.
“We want to try integrated farming and we hope to engage with agencies such as the Rubber Indus-try Smallholders Development Authority (Risda) and Felcra, which have large land banks in Johor,” he said.
The hope was to increase ruminant production by about 20% from 153,000 animals annually to some 187,000 in the next five years, he added.
Asked if this would be sufficient, Zahari said based on national statistics, Malaysia produced only about 22% of the cattle and buffalo meat it consumed.
“Our national goat and sheep production is only 9.6% at present,” he said, noting that there was huge potential to further grow this ruminant meat sector.
On another issue, he said Johor would appeal to the Federal Government to reintroduce fuel subsidy for C2 class deep-sea fishermen.
“This subsidy has been suspended for sometime. We hope that the government will bring it back as this will benefit more than 100 fishermen, especially those around Endau and Mersing,” he added.
Fuel subsidy for C2 class fishermen was stopped in 2019.
At present, subsidy is only given to Class A and B fishermen.
