Only 10% farms legal

Tuesday July 6, 2010

By DERRICK VINESH

Time to moo-ve: (From right) Dr Romli and Oon spotting these two calves at an illegal cattle and goat farm at Kampung Bukit Kecil near Taman Kota Permai in Bukit Mertajam. ONLY 10% of the 968 cattle and goat farms in Seberang Prai, Penang, are operating with a valid licence. 

 

The remaining 90% have been operating without a licence from the Seberang Prai Municipal Council.

Councillor Oon Neow Aun said out of 750 cattle farms, 674 farms were illegal while 193 of 218 goat farms did not have a licence. “It is surprising to find that so many cattle and goat farms have been operating illegally all these years,” he said after visiting an illegal farm in Kampung Bukit Kecil yesterday.

Site inspection: Officers checking out the farm.

He said the council would form two special task force committees, one to handle illegal cattle and goat farms and another to handle illegal pig farms. Oon said the committees would look at ways to help legalise the farms, adding that the operators needed to abide by the council’s regulations and guidelines, which included those on cleanliness and location. He said such farms should not be set up in housing schemes and new villages. Oon said the state government had identified a 6.8ha plot of land belonging to the Penang Development Corporation in Batu Kawan, south Seberang Prai to relocate some of the illegal farms.

Kampung Bukit Kecil farmer N. Kumar, 47, who started the business eight months ago, said he was not aware that a licence was needed. “I am willing to relocate my farm to Batu Kawan, but I hope the authorities will give me two to three months’ grace period,” he said. Kumar, who has 40 cattle and 70 goats, said the residents in the neighbourhood did not object to the presence of his farm when he first started renting the 0.4ha plot of land.

Oon said since the council received complaints about Kumar’s farm last December, he had been served with three compounds of RM250 each for operating the farm without a licence. Yesterday, he was served with a similar compound as well as another compound of RM250 for causing nuisance under Section 82 (B) of the Local Government Act. Kumar paid the fines. Also present were the council’s Health Services Department director Dr Romli Awang, Padang Lalang assemblyman Michael Tan Cheong Heng and the council’s Local Agenda 21 coordinator Chew Eng Seng.

On the spot: Chew (centre) with MPSP veterinary assistants Ramli Che Me (left) and Lim Bee Eng issuing a compound to the cattle and goat farm owner at Kampung Bukit Kecil.