Integrated poultry company Leong Hup Holdings Bhd plans to spend up to 30 million ringgit (MYR) this year to set up a broiler farm in the Bio Desaru Food Valley project in the Kota Tinggi district, reports The Star of Malaysia.

Executive director, Tan Sri Francis Lau Tuang Nguang, said the farm would be located on 72.8 hectares dedicated to poultry farming activities within the 3,642.17-hectare Bio Desaru Food Valley, the first big-scale organic food farm in the country.

Mr Tan told StarBiz: "We are investing between MYR20 million and MYR30 million in the farm which will have the capacity to produce 500,000 to over one million fowls within the next three years," recently after the signing of the memorandum of agreement (MoA) between Leong Hup subsidiary Leong Hup Contract Farming Sdn Bhd and Johor Biotechnology & Biodiversity Corp (J-Bio Tech).

State-owned J-Bio Tech, the developer of Bio Desaru Food Valley, also signed MoAs and memoranda of understanding with eight other companies in conjunction with the 2nd Bio Johor 2010 International Biotechnology and Biodiversity Conference.

Like other chickens reared in Leong Hup's farms nationwide, the birds at the Bio Desaru Food Valley farm would be bred in broiler houses, Mr Lau said.

"Chickens raised at our Bio Desaru farm will be sent to Singapore as the republic's close proximity to Kota Tinggi makes it more economical in terms of transportation costs," said Mr Lau.

He added that Leong Hup is still optimistic on the local poultry industry despite the recent increase in prices of dressed chickens in the market.

Consumers would continue to consume chicken meat and eggs as they are easily available and among the cheapest sources of protein, he said.

Before the Government abolished the ceiling price for chicken, it stood at MYR6 per kilo, according to The Star. Malaysia has an annual per-capita chicken consumption of about 38kg.