MALAYSIA is planning to modernise its agriculture sector by adopting smart farming to boost the income of farmers and further advance the sector.
Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department (Economy) Datuk Seri Mustapa Mohamed said the sector remained important to the country’s economy even more so as the COVID-19 pandemic brought new perspectives on food security and jobs creation.
“We want to modernise agriculture, get more technologies in and encourage young people to participate in the sector,” he said in a dialogue session with World Bank Group country manager for Malaysia Dr Firas Raad.
Mustapa revealed that the Government plans to transform the Federal Land Development Authority (FELDA) by diversifying the income streams of its settlers in the next three to four years.
Currently, the income of the settles mainly relies on palm oil and rubber planting.
Meanwhile, Minister of Agriculture and Food Industries Datuk Seri Ronald Kiandee said strengthening Malaysia’s agrofood system will allow the economy to pursue other national priorities
This includes the nation’s Shared Prosperity Vision (2030), introducing measures designed to enhance farmers’ incomes, create more agriculture job positions across the nation and increase agro-exports to other countries.
Additionally, Mustapa also pointed out that Malaysia could already start building an agriculture sector that is more responsive to the country’s contemporary food economy. For example, developing the capacity to supply more high-value foods.
“Malaysia could also position itself to lead in the supply of ‘healthy and safe’ produce to the region, and invest more in human capital that will be needed to transform Malaysia’s agrofood complex.
“This includes training and attracting the next generation of agrofood system entrepreneurs across a wide variety of disciplines,” he added.
In 2019, the local agriculture sector fell behind that of Indonesia, Thailand, Vietnam and other regional players, despite being on its peak for decades since the 1970s.
The country’s long neglect of the sector and narrow focus on plantation crops at the cost of encouraging crop diversity has left the country with serious issues and challenges.
Due to this, advancement in innovation, technology, methodology and value chain development is sorely needed.
As such, the Government’s shift of focus toward smart farming is an opportunity for consulting and technology companies to collaborate and come up with a technological solutions.
Although smart farming may not fully revitalise the agriculture sector overnight, it will still manage to assist entrepreneurs in terms of expertise and capital to pick up grants and incentives.
All in, the whole agriculture sector needs rethinking. Before committing to smart farming which does have a place in some niches, the potential future directions of the sector need to be discussed openly.
This will allow for new thought out direction to be set in Malaysian agriculture. The Government needs to work on transforming what already is and help the rural communities that are in need. – Dec 17, 2020
