Sabah earned RM62,000 from seaweed in 2010

KOTA KINABALU, Nov 23 (Bernama) -- Sabah earned RM62,355 from seaweed last year, up from RM5,342 in 2005 and RM44,519 in 2008, said Assistant Agriculture and Food Industries Minister Datuk Bobby Ahfang Suan.

"The increase in revenue is attributed to value added activites such as introduction of new products like hygenic seaweed for food and salt, and quality packaging," he said in reply to a question from Datuk Harman Mohammad (BN-Sulabayan) at the State Assembly sitting here today.

Another contributory factor was the increase in seaweed hectarage, from 960ha in 2005 with a production of 3,142 metric tonnes of dried seaweed, to 7,730ha in 2008, when production rose to 11,129 metric tonnes, he said.

Last year, the area was expanded to 7,942ha producing 20,785 metric tonnes, he added.

Bobbey said a hectare can produce one to two metric tonnes of dried seaweed every two-month culture cycle.

"Last year, productivity was 2.63 metric tonnes a hectare compared to 2.4 metric tonnes a hectare the previous year, while in 2007 and 2008, it was around 1.44 metric tonnes a hectare a year," he said.

Bobbey said seaweed culture is expected to expand rapidly with the federal government earmarking the seaweed industry as one of 16 entry point projects under the agriculture National Key Economic Area programme.

The five top seaweed producing districts in the state are Semporna (90% of the state's production), followed by Lahad Datu (7%), and Kunak, Tawau and Banggi (1% each), he added.

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