Sabah aims to double bird's nest output
SANDAKAN: Assistant Minister of Agriculture and Food Industry Dr Daud Yusof said the State Government is considering to place personnel from the ministry at all entry points in China, especially for the trading of swiftlet bird's nest.
He said this is to encourage the export of bird's nests to China, and to foster good relationship between the two countries.
“However, this is only a suggestion, and it is important that we work for it to happen. It is up to China to see if they want to accept our suggestion,” he said, adding that the matter will not be easily implemented as it involves two countries.
Daud said the State Government, through the ministry, has identified the sbird's nest industry as a big income source for Sabah.
“The swiftlet bird's nest industry has become the main agricultural development in Sabah with our aim to produce 100 tonnes per year of swiftlet bird's nest by 2023.
“In 2017, Sabah produced about 50 tonnes of swiftlet bird's nest, which is equivalent to RM200 million,” he said.
Daud said, the Government is now putting up effort to increase the number of bird nest houses (BNH) in Sabah by encouraging good BNH management and building more BNH in places with good potential on the concept of collaborating with foreign investors.
He said this at the signing ceremony of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between AMC Advance Profitable Enterprise and two representatives from a China company at Four Points by Sheraton Hotel here, yesterday.
Also present at the ceremony were the Veterinary Service Department director, Dr Peter Lee; political secretary to the Chief Minister, Pangiran Roslan Pangiran Nasrun, AMG Advance Profitable Enterprise director, Shamsuddin Chinu, AMG China company representative, Simon Teo, and AMG Company director, Albert Yeoh.
Commenting on the MoU, Daud said, the signing ceremony is a historical event for Sabah as the bumiputera company owns the first swiftlet farm factory in Sabah, and signing its first MoU with two China companies.
He congratulated AMG Advance Profitable Enterprise for successfully collaborating with companies from China to build more BNH in Sabah.
“It is a smart move by AMG Advance Profitable Enterprise to heed the call of the State Government for Sabah to process its own resources before exporting them to other countries. This is a starting step for Sabah in the effort to boost our economy,” he said.
Daud said that Sabah has been exporting its raw resources out of Sabah to be processed, but with the new Government's policy today under the Chief Minister, Datuk Seri Shafie Apdal, Sabah is now driven towards processing its own resources before they are exported to boost the economy in the State and at the same time provide job opportunities to the locals.
“As we all know, swiftlet bird's nest has high market value of between RM3,500 to RM5,000 per kilogram. The main countries for the market of bird's nest are China and Hong Kong. However, today, the future of bird's nest market is undergoing a paradigm change, which is the extracted edible bird nest penetrating the markets of Dubai and Western countries, including the United States of America. This increases the sale of bird's nest to a bigger, more secure and stable market,” he said.
This is why the government has identified the bird's nest industry as not only contributing to the income of swiftlet nest farmers, but also a new source of wealth for the country, particularly Sabah.
Earlier, Daud visited the swiftlet processing factory (cave and houses), as well as the precleaning process of raw material at AMG Advance Profitable Enterprise in Batu Sapi here.