High quality agriculture products attract investors from China

Kota Kinabalu (Friday) – The high quality of local turmeric plant products has sparked the interest of a foreign company from China. A delegation from Zhengzhou Chong Tai Biological Technology (ZCTBT) Co. Ltd today went on a courtesy call to the Sabah Economic Development and Investment Authority (SEDIA) in hopes of entering the local agriculture industry.

Zhengzhou Chong Tai Bio Tech, a business investment company of Henan Agricultural University, is the result of a government and private sector joint venture. The delegation, during the courtesy call this morning to SEDIA, expressed their enthusiasm to invest in production activities of turmeric. From its production, the turmeric can then be processed into curcumin, turmeric essential oils, gum and powder as active ingredients for the production of high-end biopharmaceutical and bio-cosmetic products, among various uses.

Representatives from Zhengzhou Chong Tai Biological Technology (left) in a meeting with members of SEDIA

With the year-long tropical weather and suitable soil, local turmeric production has yielded high quality turmeric on a global level. ZCTBT chose Sabah as the potential location for their production activities over locations in other countries such as India for the competitive cost of operating business in the state.

The courtesy call was followed by a site visit of the Sabah Agro-Industrial Precinct (SAIP), arranged by SEDIA. SAIP is a dedicated precinct aimed at spearheading the modernisation of the agriculture industry. Among the goals of SAIP is to develop local agro-entrepreneurs by fostering science-industry linkages. This objective will be driven forward via its incubator programme which is one of the key elements to enable the rural communities to move into a high income economy, in line with the New Economic Model inspired by the Prime Minister. Through this programme, an integrated support service to nurture and develop new agro-entrepreneurs will be organised at SAIP. Facilities such as an administrations building with initial incubator support facilities will be built under the Sabah Development Corridor development allocation.