Let’s go big on local fruits: CM
Kota Kinabalu: All quarters in Sabah have been urged to promote the consumption of local fruits so as to help farmers market their produce and generate income as well as enhance the State’s agriculture sector.
Making the call, Chief Minister Datuk Seri Musa Aman said promoting and marketing local fruits is timely as it is the fruit season and supply is abundant.
“It is very timely to promote the consumption of local fruits to the people as the prices of imported fruits like apples, peach, kiwi fruit and grapes are high now due to the strong US dollar.
“In fact, it would also help our local fruit farmers especially those in the rural areas to market their local products and generate more income for them.
“Hence, I have also asked all quarters including restaurant operators and eateries as well as those in the tourism industry to serve local fruits in their premises and for any organiser to do the same in any of their functions and programmes to help our local fruit sector,” he said.
Musa said this when opening the Borneo Fruits Festival 2015 at the boardwalk of the Oceanus Waterfront Mall here on Friday. The 12-day festival is jointly organised by Oceanus Waterfront Mall, City Hall and Raw Food Asia, a raw food movement in South East Asia in cooperation with the State Agriculture Department, Federal Agricultural and Marketing Authority (Fama), Tourism, Culture and Environment Ministry, Tourism Malaysia, and RTM, among others.
More than 20 stalls and food exhibitions are being featured during the festival and it is open from 10am to 9pm. The festival also highlights a ‘All You Can Eat’ Durian Buffet’ at a fee of RM15 per person and ‘Miss Fruitti 2015’ pageant to be held for two days beginning today where the contestants will be adorning fruit inspired designed costumes.
Also present were Tourism, Culture and Environment Minister Datuk Seri Masidi Manjun, Special Tasks Minister Datuk Teo Chee Kang, Community Development and Consumer Affairs Minister Datuk Jainab Ahmad, Agriculture and Food Industry Assistant Ministers Datuk Musbah Jamli and Datuk Sairin Karno, Mayor Datuk Abidin Madingkir, Waterfront Urban Development Sdn Bhd Chairman Datuk Abdul Ghani Abdul Rashid and other officials.
Musa said the variety of local fruits like the King of Fruits namely Durian, langsat, dukong, mangosteen, rambutan, jackfruit and Tarap have their own unique and delicious taste that are at par with imported fruits.
He also commended the organisers for holding the Borneo Fruits Festival 2015 here which is also very timely as it provides a good platform for local farmers to exhibit and market their local fruits to people.
“I am optimistic that such festival could also help the State Government to further develop the agriculture industry which is the second biggest sector that contributes to the State’s revenue.
“Furthermore, it complements government efforts to further stimulate the agenda for socio-economic development for the people,” he said.
Musa also noted that there are a number of fruit festivals being organised in Sabah that received overwhelming response and will bring positive impact to the local farmers and fruit orchard owners.
He is also optimistic that organising more and similar festivals to promote local fruits would attract tourists to visit Sabah and taste local fruits some of which are not available in their countries.
Meanwhile, Madingkir said the fruit festival is not only aimed at promoting local fruits to be consumed by the public but also to further stimulate and generate more income to fruit farmers in Sabah.
He said planting local fruits can also be a source of income to the farmers as the local produce can be exported.
In fact, he said based on Agriculture Department statistics in 2012, the nation imported fruits worth RM1.8 billion while exports amounted to RM615 million which could be a motivation to the fruit farmers in Sabah to take the initiative to enhance the production of local fruits.
Source: Daily Express
