Bruneians Captivated By Malaysia's Blooming Agriculture
By Rosli Abidin Yahya
Bandar Seri Begawan - Some 42 entrepreneurs and farmers from Brunei Darussalam witnessed various new products and machinery at the Malaysian Agriculture, Horticulture and Agrotourism Show (MAHA) 2006 yesterday which highlighted the transformation of agriculture and agro-business into a dynamic and profitable sector in Malaysia.
The MAHA 2006, held at the new RM220 million Malaysia Agro-Exposition Park in Serdang, commenced on Nov 23 and was supposed to end Nov 26 but has been extended by another day until Nov 27 to give an opportunity to more visitors to attend the event.
The delegation of businessmen and farmers from Brunei was led by Haji Matzin Haji Salleh, a director of AgriDev Sdn Bhd. While in Kuala Lumpur, they were hosted by Malaysian company Warisan Baiduri Sdn Bhd with cooperation from Lembaga Pertubuhan Peladang. At the opening ceremony, the Malaysian Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak said the exposition was organised to enhance people's awareness of the agriculture sector as consumers or participants.
Themed "Agriculture is Business", MAHA 2006 features 976 booths including 279 foreign participation from 11 nations - Australia, New Zealand, Belgium, UK, Holland, Canada, China, India, Taiwan, Thailand and Indonesia.
A spokesperson for the organisers, Muhammad Adman Bahari, said MAHA 2006 has exceeded the target number of visitors after only three days. "In the first day, there were 120,000 visitors while on second and third day there were more than 200,000 visitors each day.
"We targeted 500,000 people to visit the exhibition but now it may even approach a million visitors," he said. He hoped other businessmen and farmers from Brunei would come to Serdang to visit the exhibition as there are many new products on show that have revolutionised the agriculture sector in Malaysia.
Apart from five exhibition halls, the event also has Agrobazaar, Malaysian Truly Asia Kitchen, seminars, livestock exhibition, arts and cultural performance, snake show, gardens and agriculture machinery exhibition.
The livestock exhibition features livestock competition and fan animals such as goats, deer, horses, cows, birds and rabbits.
-- Courtesy of Borneo Bulletin, 27 November 2006
