PENDANG: State government has set a target to turn Kedah into a major producer of dairy products in the country with the production capacity of 2.3 million litre dairy by 2017.
This is to be achieved by building the capacity of small scale dairy producers and encouraging them to adopt modern technology.
Menteri Besar Datuk Seri Mukhriz Mahathir said the programme, under the national Economic Entry Point's Dairy Cluster would pave way for the transformation of small time dairy producers into a larger-scale producers.
"Our target is to achieve self-sufficient level for the state before expanding the supply to others states in the country," he said after witnessing the signing of partnership agreement between ADMC Dairy Farm Sdn Bhd and Kedah Dairy Farmers Cooperatives here today.
Present were state Women Development, Welfare, Agriculture and Agro-based Industry Committee chairman Datuk Suraya Yaacob and ADMC managing director Dominic Antoni.
Mukhriz said under the Kedah Dairy Industry Development Initiative, AMDC would train 60 young small scale dairy producers with latest technology.
He said the pilot project would benefit at least 194 people in the supply-chain system and the number was expected to grow bigger in the coming years.
In 2014, Kedah produced 934,4441 litre of dairy product worth RM2.34 million, accounting about 3.76 per cent of the total national production.