Mcfarm Assets, Ops Handed To Brunei
Written by James Kon Tuesday, 30 June 2009
The new aspiration come to light after McFarm, a subsidiary under Mitsubishi Corporation that was built to transfer modern agriculture into Brunei Darussalam since 1978, was handed over to the Department of Agriculture under MIPR, following the handing-over ceremony to His Majesty's Government yesterday.
It was revealed that the first program would be soil investigation currently being carried out and is still at initial stage. The other scope of work includes conservation of soil fertility, prevention of soil erosion, training and education of farmers and on the job staff training.
Under the deed signed yesterday with the Department of Agriculture, MIPR, Mitsubishi Corporation and McFarm have agreed to return the farmland and transfer the assets, employees and operations of McFarm to the Department of Agriculture by end of this month. The Department of Agriculture will continue operations of the farm.
Although Farm operations will be under the supervision of the Department of Agriculture, Mitsubishi Corp has agreed to explore further possible collaborative schemes with the Department of Agriculture and continue discussions in laying out the blueprint of new initiatives. On the years of contribution by McFarm, guest of honour Pehin Orang Kaya Utama Dato Seri Setia Awang Haji Yahya bin Begawan Mudim Dato Paduka Haji Abu Bakar, the Minister of Industry and Primary Resources said "The establishment of McFarm by Mitsubishi Corporation, has made considerable contributions to the development of the agriculture sector in Brunei. in its preliminary effort, the government through the Department of Agriculture has worked closely with McFarm to develop livestock production."
He added: "During the course of implementation, the initial memorandum of Agreement had been further revised and amended in 1994 and 2005 in line with the current development of agriculture with greater focus on knowledge-based agriculture, high technology vegetable production and manpower development and to cover broader areas of cooperation as well as to venture into the secondary industry."
He said, "Mc Farm has always been very cooperative and understanding to the needs of current development of Brunei Darussalam when the project on the establishment of Agro Technology park was first mooted by the Ministry of Industry and Primary Resources, Management of McFarm had willingly returned a portion of 485.8 hectares of McFarm land, measuring 263.30 hectares to the government. This was to support the initiatives in promoting more agribusiness-oriented activities in the country.
The minister highlighted, "the handing over of the remaining area of land which is very timely in the light of the development of Brunei Halal Brand project It would be more meaningful if Japan continues to participate in the development of our halal industry such as by encouraging investment of Japanese companies in the production of halal ingredients and in research and development."
Signing on behalf of His Majesty's Government was Dato Paduka Haji Mohd Hamid bin Hj Mohd Jaafar, Permanent Secretary of Industry and Primary Resources with Dyg Hajah Normah Suria Hayati binti Pehin Jawatan Dalam Seri Maharaja Dato Seri Utama (Dr) Hj Awang Mohd Jamil al-Sufri, the Acting Director of Agriculture.
Signing on behalf of Mitsubishi Corp. were Mr Kenji Ota, General Manager of Brunei Project Unit, Mitsubishi Corp. Japan and Mr Osamu Ito, Director of McFarm. The signing ceremony was witnessed by Pehin Orang Kaya Utama Dato Seri Setia Awang Haji Yahya with Mr Kazuyuki Mori Senior Vice President, Division COO, Natural Gas Business Group Mitsubishi Corp. -- Courtesy of Borneo Bulletin