Datuk Dr Abdul Rahman Ismail
LAWAS (Nov 10): The Sarawak government is targeting to export halal mozzarella cheese produced here to the Middle East countries and other markets by the end of 2024, said Deputy Minister of Food Industry, Commodity and Regional Development Datuk Dr Abdul Rahman Ismail.
He said his ministry was looking to maximise buffalo cheese production at Maragang buffalo breeding station here to meet the demand in the local market as well as foreign markets.
“The mozzarella cheese produced here has its own advantage – we will label it as halal mozzarella cheese.
“So this will make it easier for it to enter the market of Islamic countries such as the Middle East where we now see young children liking cheese-based menus,” he said when interviewed by reporters here today.
Dr Abdul Rahman said Regional Corridor Development Authority (Recoda) through Northern Regional Development Agency (NRDA) had allocated RM15 million to upgrade Maragang Lawas Buffalo Breeding Station.
The upgrading includes the establishment of a cheese processing factory and other supporting facilities there, and the project is expected to be completed within 18 months, with production expected to commence by end of 2024.
“God-willing, this project will be successful and it will become the largest producer of cheese from buffalo milk in Malaysia,” he said.
To achieve this target, he added, the government would have to replace the local buffalo population with ‘Murrah’ buffaloes that will produce the milk for cheese production.
“This species can produce more milk than the rice field buffalo species that we have now,” he said.
He said the ministry is looking forward to tripling the buffalo population in the state by 2030 to meet the demand of downstream activities of this livestock industry.
There are currently 6,000 buffaloes in the state now compared to only 4,000 three years ago and efforts are underway to boost the number to 20,000 in the next seven years.
The cheese production project in Lawas will create economic spinoffs and job opportunities benefiting the local population, added Dr Abdul Rahman.