Zahari: Jemaluang Dairy Valley a catalyst for socio-economic growth.
DAIRY tourism is becoming Johor’s next agro-attraction, with the state banking on the Jemaluang Dairy Valley (JDV) project in Mersing to draw visitors, while boosting fresh milk production.
State agriculture, agro-based industry and rural development committee chairman Datuk Zahari Sarip said the project was designed to strengthen the state’s dairy output and create new economic spin-offs.
“Among its visitor-friendly features are a dairy cafe, steakhouse and educational tours.
“Many visitors have been stopping by to take photos and videos which have become popular on TikTok,” he said in a question and answer session during the state assembly sitting at Bangunan Sultan Ismail in Kota Iskandar.
He was responding to questions on how the dairy project benefitted the people and efforts to increase ruminant numbers.
JDV was completed on June 30, 2025, by the East Coast Economic Region Development Council via an allocation of RM68.5mil.
Zahari said the project was a catalyst for socio-economic growth, generating job opportunities for locals while also introducing a satellite farmer programme to nurture 30 satellite dairy farmers within the first three years of operation.
He said JDV would function as a fresh milk collection centre, while the Johor Dairy Centre of Excellence would provide technical training, technology transfer and market access for farmers.
Johor has the second highest population of ruminant animals in the country after Pahang, with 160,845 cows and goats to date.
Zahari said the state aimed to increase the number to 200,000 by 2027.
“RM19.8mil was also allocated by the state over the past five years under the Veterinary Services Department for the development of the ruminant industry,” Zahari said.
However, the subsector’s self-sufficiency level was low, he said, with beef and buffalo meat at 15.9%, mutton and goat meat at 10.6% and fresh milk at 66.8%.
“Our import dependency is high at 89.6% for beef and buffalo meat, 84.5% for mutton and goat meat, and 56.6% for fresh milk.”
Zahari said to address this, the state was implementing several measures to boost local ruminant numbers and productivity, including improving livestock genetics through cattle breeding assistance programmes and expanding artificial insemination services.
Other efforts, he said, included strengthening disease-control programmes, upgrading livestock infrastructure and feed management, providing support and training for farmers, and enhancing Permanent Food Production Parks for livestock.
