THE food production park called Taman Kekal Pengeluaran Makanan (TKPM) in Juru is said to be one of its kind in Penang.
On July 7, Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng and the exco members, including exco member for agriculture & agro-based industry, rural development and health Dr. Afif Bahardin, visited the food park for its official launch.
The RM42 million park sits on a 285-acre plot with three agriculture components.
Livestock like chicken farming, aquaculture with fish rearing and crops like mushroom and pineapples are spread out in the area.
Afif pointed out some of the features while taking members of the media on a tour.
“The chicken rearing uses the ‘closed breeding farm’ technology where pollution can be managed. Yearly production value hit RM844.10 million in 2014 with chicken and duck contributing 60% of the overall production,” he said.
“As for fish farming, the production is expected to increase from 1.3 million tons in 2010 to 1.9 million tons by 2020, with an average increase of 3.8% annually. Now that consumers are more health conscious, fish is in demand,” he added.
Lim, who delivered his speech at the official launch, said: “The Penang state government is constantly promoting agriculture industry so that it is on par with the industrial sector and tourism services. The main focus is to increase the productivity and improve the quality of agriculture and aquaculture.”