KOTA BHARU, Oct 10: The National Kenaf and Tobacco Board (LKTN) is currently working with Sarawak’s Ministry of Food Industry, Commodity and Regional Development (M-FICORD) on 2,000 hectares of kenaf plantation in Ulu Sebauh, Bintulu.
Deputy Prime Minister Dato Sri Fadillah Yusof, who is Minister of Plantation and Commodity, further said that LKTN will collaborate with the agencies and companies under M-FICORD to explore the concept of cluster farms and private-driven development through local companies.
“We hope this effort will not end at the planting level only but to continue up to downstream industries,” he said when officiating at LKTN’s Golden Jubilee Celebration held in Kota Bharu, Kelantan, last night.
Kenaf, a fast-growing hibiscus plant, is a warm-season annual row crop in the same plant family as okra and cotton.
It produces many eco-friendly materials, from paper to furniture and biofuel to textiles.
In Malaysia, kenaf is fast becoming the nation’s third industrial crop after palm oil and rubber after first being introduced in 2010. — DayakDaily
