Brunei focuses on agrifood expansion

The agrifood sector will become Brunei's new direction to compete with the regional and international market.

According to the implementation of the strategic Medium Term Plan 2008-2013, the Agriculture and Agrifood Department, will use the Brunei Halal brand for this purpose.

The value-added product will receive a place in the international market especially for the Muslim population which is 1.9 billion. The regional population is also believed to be a big market and Brunei is actively focusing their efforts to market local products not only for the local community which is small but also the international market.

The meat products have recorded a production of US$7.85 billion in 2008 compared to the US$9.88 billion in 2007. Meanwhile, production costs based on agricultural growth increased approximately around US$30 billion in 2007 to nearly US$45 billion in 2008.

Implementation methods in quality control and security by the Agriculture Department provide competitive benefits in the local production, GMP application and introductory to HACCP to local food producers. It will allow them to be competitive in the local and international market and more comprehensive data collecting for data production.

In the country, more than 100 local companies are in the food manufacturing enterprises. Out of the total, more than 90% is comprised of small and medium entrepreneurs. Processed meat contributes about US$7.85 billion, of which 15% are from the food manufacturing industry.

The Agricultural and Agrifood Department will focus on the development of the agrifood manufacturing industry by utilising raw material from regional areas for the value-added processing. The department also predicts the increase in economy from the local food production based on agriculture will reach US$1.87 billion by 2023. Total production in the staple food manufacturing is estimated to increase by 5% from 2005 until 2013 and is targeted to increase by 10% from 2014 until 2023.

To achieve these targets, The Agricultural and Agrifood Department will implement a number of projects which will support the local food manufacturers in producing a high quality, safe and guaranteed halal food product as well as being competitive with international products.

This includes organising workshops to shape the way to develop agrifood activity and the development of 20 selected and identified potential products, chosen as a result of the Agriculture Consultation Product Market Research for Brunei.