PETALING JAYA: IF one were to ask Chef Darren Teoh, founder of the award-winning restaurant Dewakan, on what is the secret to success, he would say there is none.

However, Dewakans listing in the 2019 Asias 50 Best Restaurants list was no accident. He attributed it to a whole ecosystem, from the cooking, preparation, ingredients, all the way down to the farmers.

If you want to know how we prepare the dishes, we would tell you the recipe. If you want to know where we get the ingredients, we'll gladly tell you where to get them.

We dont measure success in terms of awards, but instead, a sustainable business and how we do things, as well as our narrative and purpose.

Our success is dependent on the entire ecology of things, not only how well we cook the ingredients, but also the people who strive to better the local food scene, such as farmers, fishermen and the Orang Asli, who are proud to share their knowledge.

We credit them (suppliers) for the products we source from them; the meat, the rice and even the chocolates, he told the New Straits Times.

Teoh, however, admitted that it could be exceptionally difficult to source meat of good quality.

He said the ruminant sector in Malaysia had been industrialised to cater to the masses, and that the quality and prices paid by consumers were two different things.

Teoh wasnt alone in his assessment of the state of the local ruminant industry. Malaysias poor output in terms of ruminant production, as well as quality, had been a bone of contention among industry players for years.

Malaysia produces only 29 per cent of its ruminant needs, with imports making up the rest. The country, for example, imports beef worth about RM1.14 billion annually to meet the local demand of about 191,000 tonnes.

Datuk Zainal Abd Ghani, founder of Boden Edufarm, is an authority on the subject of the ruminant industry.

His farm supplies high-quality goat meat to the countrys top restaurants, including Dewakan.

Zainal said Boden Edufarm underwent a strict vetting process by Dewakan.

Its team came to Negri Sembilan to inspect our farm in Serting, Jempol, and the kids before agreeing to source the meat from us, he said.

Transporting the meat is also crucial in ensuring its quality. The meat is chilled instead of frozen.

Zainal said Boden Edufarm strived for quality, above all else. In a move to optimise land usage and produce healthier goats, he embarked on a project to open a free range farm on a 40.4ha land.

Boden Edufarm owners Datuk Zainal Abd Ghani and Datin Fatimah Abdullah at their farm in Serting Hilir, Jempol, in June.

He said the key to any business was first understanding what one aimed to achieve.

At Boden, we aim for production and returns (revenue), so we learnt everything that is to know about improving production.

There are two factors to determine this, namely, doe to kid ratio (the average rate of how many offspring a female ruminant could birth) and the growth rate or average daily gain (ADG).

In Malaysia, the ADG of a goat is 70g per day. The authorities should look into this to find the root cause, be it poor genetics or diet, or that the ecosystem is not good. In Australia, the ADG is 200g per day, while in Africa it is 250g.

On the production rate, he said in Africa, a single goat could achieve the market weight of between 30kg and 40kg after three and four months.

However, in Malaysia, Zainal said the cycle from birth to market takes about eight to 10 months.

He said, as a result, Malaysians chose not to venture into the industry because of low returns.

He said the governments approach to help farmers, although well intentioned, could end up killing the industry altogether.

The government spent millions of ringgit to bring in livestock with the purpose of helping farmers improve their revenue through breeding.

Unfortunately, the goats were of poor quality. This is compounded by the fact that many farmers who received the goats were not ready as there is a lack of infrastructure.

They ended up selling the goats back to the suppliers for RM300 each, which the suppliers in turn sold for RM2,000.

He said most of the government initiatives to improve the ruminant industry and increase production of livestock were programme-oriented instead of result-oriented.

Zainal, whose experience included serving as chief executive officer of a public transport operator, said help such as loans and grants would not help the industry in the long term.

The industry, he said, could be killed by the very gestures meant to improve it.

When you provide more loans without proper technical assistance to the farmers, you are not helping them in the long run.

There have been many cases of goat farmers funded by the government closing down as they lacked the knowledge and expertise. In the meantime, our industry suffers due to a lack of supply, which then leads to the import of meat, which in turn kills the business of local producers.

Zainal said the relevant agencies should pay more attention to ways to boost local production and reduce dependency on imported livestock.

The Agriculture and Agro-based Industry Ministry has been focusing on Wagyu meat and Musang King durian, while here, we are talking about basic food.

The government must talk to industry players to find out the issues. Dont talk about land, labour or capital. Once we know what we want, the rest will come afterwards.

See more here:
'Focus on boosting ruminant production' - New Straits Times

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