KOTA KINABALU: Sabah has more than enough land for agriculture development, says Chief Minister Datuk Seri Hajiji Noor.

       He said there are still huge land areas available, while the agriculture industry is also not even close to being developed in the scale that the government hopes to.

       “So even if some of our land areas are converted for property development, there will still be more than enough for other purposes, including agriculture,” he said.

       Hajiji said this when asked about the predicament faced by some Malaysian states, which have limited land areas for agriculture, as more lands are converted for housing or property development.

       Utusan Malaysia recently reported that the country had to spend some RM63.6bil in food imports last year due to the various states' failure to provide new land areas for agricultural activities.

       “For Sabah, I don’t think there is a problem here,” Hajiji said.

       Agricultural development is among the key agendas of transformation and focus for Sabah through the Sabah Maju Jaya initiative within a period of five years between 2021 and 2025.