The outcome a business assessment-conducted by the Department of Agriculture is the drafting of a strategic plan that could propel the agricultural sector from a primarily commodity based sector towards a modern agribusiness setting with greater relianceon agro-food processing as well as trading of agro-commodities, agricultural products and processed agro-food. The main strategies adopted by the Department of Agriculture include:

• Continue building the capacity of the agricultural sector and fostering public and private sector participations in modernising the local agriculture and agribusiness.
• Focussing on institutional capacity building, good governance and human resource development.
• Empowering the agricultural sector with agricultural policies that are supportive to agricultural development and agribusiness.
• Facilitating thef low and transfer of technologies, and exploitation of innovations for agricultural development.
• Providing quality support services to enhance the overall technical efficiency ofthe agricultural sector.
• Developing markets and marketing networks for the local agricultural produce and agro-foods.
• Facilitating the flow of capital land investments into the agricultural sector to develop the local agribusiness.
• Improving the competitiveness ofthe local agricultural industries by increasing the productivity, quality and production levels.

These strategies are expected to sustain a growth rate of between 5 to 10 percent annually for the primary agricultural production. It is anticipated that by 2023 the local production of livestock will achieved the targeted output levels of 40,000 metric tons of chicken meat, 120,000 metric tons of table eggs and 600 metric tons of red meats. The value of livestock commodities is estimated at B$600 million The targets for the local crop production are 58,000 metric tons of vegetables, 25,000 metric tons of fruits and 900 metric tons of rice. These output from crop production are estimated to be worth B$267 million. It is noted that a rapid growth rate for egg production would be necessary to support the development of local egg processing industry, while other raw agro-commodities will be imported at worldc ompetitive prices from the nearby agrarian countries and beyond.

Other than primary production the Department of Agriculture is also focussing on developing the agro-food processing industries in the country. It is logical that the in developing the processing industries, it couldprovidea pullingforce to boost theproduction ofagricultural commodities. In fact, the potential strength of the agricultural sector in Brunei Darussalam lies with capital resourcefulness to invest on asset technologies for the agro-foodprocessing industries. As mentioned before that the government is capable of self financing all its development projects without having to borrow from foreign sources. It is therefore feasible to develop the agro-food processing industries in the country by capitalising on the raw agro-commodities in the Southeast Asia region and beyond for further processing. In is targeted for the outputs of processed agro-food to grow substantially, especially for the livestock-based agro-foods. By 2023, the value of processed livestock-based food products has been targeted to achieve slightly over B$l.8 billion, comprising approximately B$750 million worth o fchicken meat products, B$220 million for egg products and B$860 million for red mea tproducts . The development of crop processing by 2023 is anticipated to attain a targeted output value of B$49 million, which comprises B$9 million worth of cereal products, B$20 million for fruit products and another B$20 worth of miscellaneous crop-based products .

Hence, the total value of outputs from the agricultural sector is targeted to be over B$2.7 billion. The total targeted outputs will comprise 88 percent livestock and livestock processed products, while the reminder 22 percent consist of crop commodities andprocessederop aNiplant~ based products. It is foreseeable that by 2023, the agricultural sector would have developed into a modern agribusiness sector, which will rely more on high capital investments, cutting edge technologies and skill workforce. The scenario would be very different from the present setting of the agricultural sector that is heavily reliant on primaryp roduction. On the contrary, thefuture of agriculture is promising apicture of vibrant business ventures with greater dependence on agro-foodprocessing industries. In line with the agricultural policies of Brunei Darussalam, the agricultural sector will be structured to reflect the importance of agro-food processing. The agricultural sector by 2023 will have the proportion of primary production to agro-food processing in the ratio of 25:75. The ASEAN region has a total population of over 500 million people. Working on the assumption that 3 percent of the populations consume about 5 kg ofchicken and a similar quantity of beef, this will work out to about 150,000 metrictons for each type of meat products. It is affect that the 5 kg per capita consumption for the various meats is rather conservative, as meat consumptions in the urban centres are expected to be much higher. The targets set for the Agro-Vision 2023 are therefore realistically within the reach. Thatit is of utmost importancefor thegovernment and entrepreneurs to jointly develop and promote the Brunei brands ofprocessed agro-food in the ASEAN regional markets and beyond.