<\/p>\n
The IADP\u2019s Director, Tuan Haji Khalidi Othman said that Tuan Haji Khalidi recalled that during \u201cWith the success of the scheme, the farmers now The interesting thing about the program is the \u201cWe are now giving more attention to the development Under the Ninth Malaysia Plan, the IADP will focus on However, with the overwhelming response from the IADP Project is one of the government\u2019s efforts to With According to En. Ellis, who is also the supervisor for the course, He explained that most of the fruits chosen in this
\nIntegrated Agricultural Development Project (IADP) Kalaka-Saribas, started four
\nyears ago, is beginning to bear fruits literally. Its Fruit-Planting Scheme is
\nshowing some encouraging results in fulfilling IADP\u2019s goals of developing
\nbarren lands and producing more competent farmers.<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n
\nfruit orchards of the people who had joined the scheme had already borne
\nfruits, helping increase the farmers\u2019 income and boosting food production in
\nSarawak.
\nthe initial stage of their Fruit Planting scheme, IADP faced many obstacles in
\nconvincing the people to get involved. With their stafff\u2019s dedication,
\nencouragement and motivation, they were able to convince the people to adopt
\nthe scheme. <\/span><\/font><\/p>\n
\nrealize that it is possible to increase food production with efficient,
\nsystematic agriculture practice and technology,\u201d said Haji Khalidi. He added
\nthat it has now become easier for them to engage the local farmers to get
\ninvolved in their programmes.
\ninfrastructures provided by IADP including irrigation and transportation
\nsystems to the farm.
\nand maintenance of irrigation to boost production the farms in our schemes. We
\nare also looking into setting up more efficient <\/span>transportation systems for ease of marketing of the farm
\nproduce,\u201d said the IADP Director.
\nthree main crops, according to Haji Khalidi.
\n<\/span>Based on initial plans, 405 hectares are allocated for citrus, 944
\nhectares for mango and 592 hectares for pineapple.
\nfarmers, IADP has decided to develop another 800 hectares of land for pineapple
\nand 300 hectares for mango in the next five years.
\nincrease the food production in the state as well as reduce the food import.
\nUntil now, several IADP areas had been developed among which <\/span>are in Kabong (Cash Crops), Alit
\n(Pineapple), Nyabor (Mango), Kaba\u2019 (Pineapple) and Parpat (Citrus).
\nimproved harvests from the fruit farms under their scheme, IADP has started to
\nimplement a training programme on developing and producing downstream products
\nsuch as fruit juice processing or fruit chips. <\/span><\/font><\/p>\n
\nEllis Ak Jeluni, IADP Agriculture Assistant, they are now conducting a
\nfruit chips production course, with ten to twenty participants for every
\ncourse. The participants will be trained in using the vacuum-frying machine.
\nsaid that the main objective of the IADP training programme is to add value to
\nthe farm produce from their Fruit-Planting schemes.
\nscheme are rich in fibre and can thus be easily converted to chips. This will
\nensure that farmers will have a more diversified means of generating income
\nfrom their fruit farms, thus improving their socio-economic status.