| Daniel Lim |
FOLLOWING a visit to various agricultural and fishery sites in the Brunei-Muara and Tutong districts earlier this week, several Legislative Council (LegCo) members recently continued their journey to the Belait District visiting agricultural and hatchery sites.
Organised by the Ministry of Primary Resources and Tourism (MPRT), the working visit exposed the LegCo members to the development of local agriculture and fishery industries as leading steps taken towards diversifying Brunei’s economy.
Twelve LegCo members attended the working visit programme, which included Dr Haji Abdul Manaf bin Haji Metussin, Permanent Secretary at the MPRT along with senior officers from the Department of Agriculture and Agrifood, Department of Fisheries, and Ministry of Primary Resources and Tourism.
The group’s first stop was at Usaha Tani Deli Duman in Kampong Rampayoh. The five-hectare-large area is home to a large number of giant freshwater prawn called Udang Galah (Macrobrachium rosenbergii).
The company has various ponds within the area to raise the prawns and at the same time, with help from the Department of Fisheries, it is able to make successful strides in breeding their own baby (post-larvae) prawns.
Following the visit to Syarikat Usaha Tani Deli Duman, the group’s next stop was to Golden Chick Livestock Farm at the Agriculture Development Area in Sungai Petai.
Since the beginning of the year, the company has recorded more than 22,901,950 fresh eggs at the farm.
The company is having talks with Republic of Singapore to exporting there.
Fresh vegetables grown using hydroponic systems were the next point of interest as the group visited Kanglin Hydroponics Farming in the Agriculture Development Area in Sungai Liang.
The farm area operated by Kanglin Hydroponics Farming is 2.8 -hectare wide and since 2015 has produced over 82.32 metric tonnes of hydroponically grown vegetables.
Since the start of the year, the company has seen yields close to 28 metric tonnes.
The group’s final visit for the day was to Brugoat Farming and Trading Pte Ltd at Kampong Gana in Sungai Liang which breeds Boer goats and Dorper sheep, a local source of goat and sheep meat in the Sultanate.
In the 2.1-hectare of land, they have accommodated more than 885 Boer goats and 1,453 Dorper sheep this year, with a variety of goat houses built specifically to cater to the rearing of sheep there.
The working visit programme was also an opportunity to promote investments in foreign business opportunities and help the growth of Brunei’s economy.
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