Figures cited by the MB show that by 2025, 90 percent of Selangor land will be for urban usage, leaving little room for traditional agriculture.
“Hence [intensive] agriculture must [give way] to [bio] technology to solve the problem (of competing land use),” he told media after launching Selangor Agrofest 2011 in Shah Alam recently.
He said the state has allocated a budget for biotechnological research in agriculture.
“We aim to produce something that might be small in quantity, but is of high economic value,” he said.
The former Guthrie Group chief executive officer (below, second from right) also noted in his speech earlier that perfume is an example of highly valuable agriculture-based product, because one bottle of it could be of equivalent value to as much as 10 tonnes of crude palm oil.
Meanwhile, the Selangor state exco member for Agriculture Modernisation, Natural Resources and Entrepreneurial Development, Yaakob Sapari, told media that Selangor has two strengths in agriculture.
“First, is superior infrastructure, such as modern pens for cattle, and also an 
advanced education system that provides skilled manpower.
“Second, its market is big enough: Selangor has a five-million population,” he noted.
Earlier in his speech, he told the full-house audience that the state has managed to apply natural farming in vegetable productionwithout using fertiliser.
On cow-rearing, he said microbes have been successfully used to eliminate odour and flies that are traditionally prevalent in cow pens.
“We even organised a hi-tea with journalists in cow pen,” he said.
He said that the seven-day Selangor Agrofest, which has 200, serves as a platform to strengthen ties between agriculture entrepreneurs.
The products being showcased range from guava juice, curry puff, gardening and landscape services, fruit wine, dutch chicken and wood crafts. The festival is being held in front of Stadium Malawati.
Khalid estimates the event will attract a million visitors and generate RM7mil in sales and RM4mil in contractual revenues.
