Malaysia - Sabah on its way to being milk exporter

Sabah, which has been promoting agriculture as one of its economic prime movers, is already 90 percent self-sufficient in milk. In time to come, the state can even export its milk, says Dr Philip Chamberlain, programme manager of Subtropical Dairy Program Ltd, a Queensland-based company which provides training to dairy farmers in nutrition and feed system management. It also trains them in animal husbandry and management, animal health and production, breeding and genetics, milking system design & management as well as business management. Statistics from the state’s Ministry of Agriculture and Food Industry showed that 5.82 million litres of milk were produced in Sabah last year as against 5.31 million litres in 2002. Although Dr Chamberlain did not specify the time frame for Sabah to emerge as an exporter of dairy products, the ministry concerned has targeted 2010 as the year in which it will be self-sufficient in milk and with excess capacity to export as well. In an interview with Bernama, he said Sabah has a very good base in the dairy industry with its tropical climate, which was actually an advantage since cattle feed could be produced all year round unlike in temperate countries. Dr Chamberlain, who was in Sabah late last month to assess several dairy farms and help the state government to further develop the industry, described it (industry) as efficient. “This is because it has a lot of keen farmers who are also very good businessmen and they are supported by a good veterinary department committed to developing this industry,” he added. Despite the keenness and strong government support, Dr Chamberlain said raising dairy cattle in the tropical heat and high humidity still has its challenges because “heat and humidity do have an effect on milk output.” But he said Sabah’s dairy farmers had overcome the problem by using the Friesian Sahiwal breed which could produce quite well in tropical climates, he said. The Friesian Sahiwal breed has been developed by the Queensland state government and it is a cross between the Sahiwal, a dairy strain of the Zebu from Pakistan, and the Holstein-Friesian breed from Australia. Dr Chamberlain said using the Friesian Sahiwal “is absolutely a good start” because it was difficult to find good dairy cattle which could adapt to the tropical climate. But he said farmers here should continue with efforts to improve the genetics of their breeds through artificial semination (permanian berhadas) so that their cattle could withstand the tropical conditions better and produce more milk. Finding a suitable breed for the tropical climate was a long term process and it could take about 10 years, said Dr Chamberlain. However, he said some other short term actions could be taken to make Sabah self-sufficient in milk and an exporter of dairy produce as well. One of the steps is through better management of cattle nutrition and improving the feeding system to increase the energy level of milking cattle and growing calves through their diet. “If you restrict the diet of the calf as it grows, it could have a potential to produce less milk when it becomes an adult,” said Dr Chamberlain. However, he said it was not necessary for farmers to rely solely on concentrated feed made from palm kernel or rice bran to improve the diet as they could mix in grass as another source of food. Some farmers in Queensland even include grass as one of the dietary components for their cattle and Sabah is well-endowed with suitable grass like the elephant grass. Most farmers in Sabah use grass as the main feed while some bigger farms provide palm kernel or rice bran feed besides grass. Dr Chamberlain stressed that nutrition was important in cattle management as it could help to keep costs down, improve milk production and increase profits. As for milking, he said most of the farms he visited in Sabah were already using milking machines. Some in Kudat and Keningau even have cooling systems to preserve the milk in the tropical heat.