Brazilian cattle breeding effort to ensure continued beef supply

KUALA LUMPUR: The Ministry of Agriculture and Agro-Based Industry (MOA) will take proactive steps to ensure a constant supply of beef in the country including importing cattle breeds from Brazil.
Its minister Datuk Salahuddin Ayub said ministry officials were making final preparations to draw up a protocol to enable Brazilian cattle to be brought into Malaysia.
"We will present a more daring and proactive initiative which would include the latest technology.
"The players are just interested in fattening and then selling the cattle. It does not go beyond that. So we need to look at a new approach, which is more detailed and focused on selecting cattle which we can use for breeding," he said at the Dewan Rakyat today when replying to a supplementary question from Che Alias Hamid (PAS-Kemaman) who asked about what the MOA was doing improving the National Feedlot Centre (NFC).
He added that the similar tropical weather in Brazil and Malaysia meant that cattle breeds from there could be bred here.
"The ministry is also in the process of identifying new companies and entrepreneurs specifically to develop the ruminant industry, as part of the effort to increase national beef production," he said. — Bernama