KOTA KINABALU: The Sabah government will give a one-off animal feed supply assistance for small-scale pig farmers in the state to help reduce their operating costs and increase livestock production.
Sabah Agriculture, Fisheries and Food Industry Minister Datuk Jamawi Jaafar said the aid will be given to farmers rearing less than 50 pigs.
“Previously, we never provided assistance to small-scale pig farmers. We helped cattle, goats, chickens, and fish farmers, but this industry was always overlooked,” he said.
The Sabah Department of Veterinary Services has been instructed to prepare a special allocation to implement the feed assistance soon, he said.
“We will try to ensure that they also receive assistance from the government in the form of animal feed,” Jamawi said.
He noted that the aid is important given that the price of pig-based products such as the popular sinalau bakas (smoked meat) has risen sharply and burdened consumers.
“We know that many people are complaining now because the price of sinalau bakas (smoked meat) has reached about RM47 per kilogram,” he said in Sabah’s interior Tenom.
Jamawi, who is also the Melalap assemblyman, added that the increased price of pork was also due to the reduced supply of wild boar following the hunting ban imposed two years ago.
He said the state government continues to maintain the ban on wild boar hunting to allow the animal population to recover following the previous outbreak of swine fever that affected its population in the wild.
To meet market demand, he said the government has allowed six companies to import pork from abroad including from Denmark and Norway.
“Each importer is allowed to bring in two containers, and in total about 10 containers will arrive each month to meet local needs,” he added.
