INTRODUCTION

Brunei Darussalam places much importance in agriculture, which is pivotal In ensuring security of food supply. In this respect, the Department of Agriculture actively promotes agricultural development as well as facilitates outsouroing of agricultural commodities and food supply. Although much has been achieved in the primary production of chic'kens, eggs, vegetables and fruits, the potential in down stream secondary industries, particularly processing of food has not been exploited. We view the secondary industry could offer many opportunities, such as processing of value-added products for the huqe consumer markets in ASEAN.

• Agricultural Land Use

There are 12,588 hectares of lands designated for agriculture. In 2003, a total of 7,859 hectares have been utilised and the remaining 4,729 hectares are still available for bonafide investors. Some 55 percent of the 7,859 hectares of land are under ruminant livestock production with the rest comprised horticulture, mixed cropping and poultry farming.

• Crop Production

The Government has been supportive towards the development of these industries in providing various kinds of agricultural infrastructure. In this context, the Department of Agriculture has spent a large sum of money on farm roads, irrigation and drainage as well as water and electricity supplies to help entrepreneurs to develop their farmlands . The Department also actively involves in facilitating inflow of technology and provides various kinds of technical services in an effort to boost the productivity and quality of domestic agriculture.

Crop production is dominated by horticulture, which include vegetable growing, production of fruits, floriculture and growing of ornamental plants. Vegetable growing mainly concentrated at the urban fringes while fruit orchards are more scattered across the country. In 2003. vegetable production recorded almost 10.360mt, mainly comprising tropical leafy vegetables. In the same year, crop production registered over 4,600mt of fruits and nearly 547mt of rice.

Floriculture is still at its infancy. producing small quantities of orchid flowers and an assortment of tropical ornamental plants. There exists an opportunity to explore the vast resources of bio-diversity, particularly in developing nutraceuticals and herbal products. Several medicinal plants indigenous to Borneo have the potential for commercialisation. However. this would require much investment on R&D for agronomic and commercial exploitations.

• Livestock Production

Livestock production is centered on poultry farming, particularly in the production of broilers and eggs. Outputs in 2003 recorded some 15,400mt of chicken meat and over 5,OOOmt of eggs. The country is now self-sufficient for the two commodities. Indeed, the advent of close-housing system of farming in the country gives a vital push in raising the efficiency of poultry growing , which has helped to raise the outputs. The are opportunities for further development in poultry farming through vertical and horizontal integration. In fact, a number of large farms are at the various stages of integration, pursuing both upstream and down-stream integration for greater business synergies, such as in feed milling, processing and further processing.

Ruminant production is a low-key affair with an annual output of only about 200mt of red meat. The bulk of the requirements comes from imports. Obviously, land is the main constrain or rather a lacking of it, but feed lot system offers an opportunity for intensive production of cattle and buffalo. This however, has not been exploited to take advantage of the lucrative markets for red meats in the region. Other than cattle and buffaloes, there is a small herd of Friesian cows producing some 97,858 liters of fresh milk to supply the local market. Adding to the list of ruminants are the tiny herds of goats and deer that have little impact on meat production, yet.