Farmers urged to breed cattle

Plantations have been told to maximise their land by breeding cattle in their oil palm estates.

Johor Mentri Besar Datuk Abdul Ghani Othman said that practice of integrated farming had been proven successful over the past decade.

"We do not have suitable land to produce rice, so we will concentrate on the production of meat," he said.

He added that Yayasan Pelajaran Johor (YPJ) and the state Farmers Association had both proven that integrated farming could be profitable by breeding cattle in oil palm plantation in the past 10 years.

Abdul Ghani said that this was one area that could be implemented immediately as there were huge tracts of oil palm plantation in the country.

He lamented that planters however were reluctant to diversify and adopt the integrated farming method, preferring instead to stick to planting and harvesting their crop alone.

"It is already proven that integrated farming brings about better results. The planters don't have to clear their undergrowth," he said adding that cattle droppings could also be used as fertiliser with no negative effect on the palm oil crop.

Abdul Ghani also said that Johor had already taken the lead and chosen Air Hitam as the spot to conduct large-scale and modern integrated food production spanning over 4,856ha.