SEREMBAN: The state government will not allow the opening of new poultry farms in Negri Sembilan and existing chicken breeders have been told to operate closed farming systems by Dec 31 if they wanted to remain in the business.
Mentri Besar Datuk Seri Mohamad Hasan said drastic measures were being taken as the state had been having massive problem with flies.
“The people cannot be made to suffer at the expense of others who make big profits out of poultry farming," he said after chairing the exco meeting on Wednesday.
Mohamad said the state had more than enough poultry farms and there was no need for more.
"We are already exporting chicken and eggs. We want our people to have a good quality life and not be bothered by flies," he said adding that the problem had reached critical levels.
Mohamad said some of the areas hard hit by flies infestation were Port Dickson, Rembau, Tampin and Seremban.
He said the state authorities would not entertain requests from poultry farmers to extend the deadline to move to the closed farming system.
"The three year deadline ended last December. We are now giving them until end of this year to do so. We cannot always bend the rules for them as people have been suffering as a result of the open farming," he said.
Mohamad also told corporations which bought chicks from poultry farmers to ensure that the suppliers practised the closed farming method.
"Eight out of every 10 poultry farmers have contracts with these large corporations who provide them with chicks and chicken feed. I hope they will take note of this," he said.
He said the state government had received many complaints from residents and hotel operators in Port Dickson of the problem.
"We are trying very hard to promote Port Dickson as our premier tourist destination. Since we are also planning to turn the resort town into a wellness zone, we cannot afford to have flies everywhere," he said adding that the closed system was not costly to build.
Mohamad said attempts by the state government to centralise poultry farming had not received positive feedback from farmers, adding that the goverment was prepared to allocate between 60ha and 100ha of land for the purpose.
"We are lucky that we haven't had any outbreak of diseases spread by flies here," he said. Asked whether errant farmers would have their licences revoked, Mohamad said this would be decided once the deadline ended.
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