Melaka raked in RM1.55 billion last year from the poultry industry with the export of chicken and chicken-based products accounting for 86 per cent of earnings.
Chief Minister, Mohd Ali Rustam said last year’s output was 78 per cent higher than the RM874.05 million earned by the industry in 2005.
Melaka is the largest producer of chicken eggs in Malaysia with a daily output of 7.5 million and exported chicken meat and eggs to Singapore, Indonesia, Hong Kong and Timor Leste, he said at the national-level free-zone awareness campaign for newcastle disease in Merlimau near here today.
His speech text was delivered, on his behalf, by Chairman of the Melaka Industry, Commerce and Entrepreneurial and Cooperative Development Committee, Md Yunos Husin.
Mohd Ali said Melaka also exported day-old chicks to Indonesia, Vietnam, Cambodia, Bangladesh, Turkey, Brunei and the Philippines as such the awareness programme was vital to ensure chicken-based products in Melaka were disease-free and of high-quality.
He also said chicken raised in the backyard and villages, which were normally not confined in cages, must also be vaccinated as they risk contracting the bird flu and Newcastle disease.
— BERNAMA