Monday, July 04, 2011

More efforts needed to improve quality of Sabah local handicrafts

SANDAKAN: The handicraft industry in Sabah has been steadily growing with sales up from RM1.106 million in 2007 to RM1.6 million last year. The state also has the largest number of handicraft entrepreneurs in the country, numbering at 2,182 from a total of 6,617.

Chief Minister, Datuk Seri Musa Haji Aman therefore wants more efforts to improve the quality of the products and to intensify promotion and marketing in both the domestic and international markets.

“I am confident that once the Sabah Handicraft Centre in Keningau is completed, it can help to increase sales and act as a centre for processing and collecting craft using the latest technology,” he said when launching the state-level celebration of the Handicraft Month at the Sri Libaran Hall here yesterday.

The event was also held to launch the book on ‘Desa Cemerlang dan Berinovasi’ (Excellent and Innovative Village).

The centre will also provide better facilities to entrepreneurs, suppliers and retailers as well as tourists and importers of local handicraft.

Although Sabah has the highest number of handicraft entrepreneurs in the country, Musa pointed out that the state still lacked people in the batik and woven textiles sector.

Meanwhile, Yayasan Sabah director, Tan Sri Datu Khalil Datu Haji Jamalul, said Sandakan was an appropriate location to hold the Handicraft Month celebration because it had great potential for handicraft making particularly for products made from beads, crystal, seashells, wood, bamboo, rotan and other metals.

He said the Sabah Handicraft Centre in Keningau will be ready in September and Yayasan Sabah Group had been appointed as co-ordinator and implementer of the project.

A 10-acre plot near the district hospital was allocated for the centre built at a cost of RM30 million.

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