THE Sabah Economic Development Investment Authority (Sedia) has been told to get its act together instead of proposing that the federally funded Keningau Integrated Livestock Centre (KLIC) be sold to private investors. 

This was Sabah Chief Minister Shafie Apdal’s view, saying Sedia has not fully tapped into the potential of the centre that saw the previous administration pumping in RM118 million to set it up in 2013. 

“There are still many things that have yet to be done –improve promotions, packaging of fresh milk and beef. 

“We should focus on pushing domestic consumption and enhancing KILC’s capacity. 

“Currently, local fresh milk only holds 5% of the country’s market share; we rely on imports for the other 95%,” he said in Keningau, Sabah, today. 

Shafie is on a one-day visit to the interior district, today visiting the government-owned livestock farm and a private farm called Yap Yun Fook farm. 

KILC was first mooted in 2009, with the launch by former prime minister Najib Razak in 2012.

The KILC is a flagship project under the Sabah Development Corridor (SDC) and is aimed at increasing the population of high-quality yield cows and to develop a sustainable breeding structure for cattle. 

On a 341ha land some 38km from Keningau, it accounts for 24.2% of fresh milk produced in Sabah, producing around 2.5 million litres of it in 2017. 

It aims to pump out at least six million litres by 2023.

An earlier briefing by the investment authority’s chief executive officer Dr Mohd Yaakob Johari had earlier floated the idea of allowing private investors to take over the KLIC, citing falling fresh milk yields and beef. 

Shafie objected to the proposal, saying there was huge potential in livestock farming, citing the success of the privately-run Yap Yun Fook farm in the same district. 

“We must study in detail whether there is a need for the government to privatise the centre. 

“Or, perhaps we could look at and model the success of Yap Yun Fook farm to improve KILC’s business,” he said. 

The farm owned by businessman Yap Yun Fook not only accounts for 39% of local fresh milk in the market, but also produces cheese and yogurt. 

On top of this, his farm also grows pineapples and durian using compost made from his cattle. 

Yap also ventured into swiftlet farming, which has become the sole pest control mechanism in his farm, where he grows napier grass as cattle feed. 

The businessman also recently opened a fresh water fish aquaculture farm, selling the highly-priced Empurau  fish, hiring locals to work in his farms. 

Shafie said if the KILC was properly managed, it, too, could be a “job creator” and generate millions of ringgit in spin-offs for the local economy, as well as help local breeders grow their businesses. 

He cited a local fishmonger in Keningau, who he said earns about RM20,000 a month reselling Empurau fish sourced from Yap’s fish farm. – January 11, 2019.