KUCHING: Youths, especially those living in suburban areas, are encouraged to take advantage of the lucrative agriculture sector.
Communities living in suburban areas are also tend to have access to plots of lands that are family owned, thus giving prospective young farmers a head start to set up their own farms.
Assistant Minister for Youth Development (Urban Areas) Datuk Abdul Karim Rahman Hamzah said taking up agriculture was a wise one as everyone needed food.
“Agriculture should be taken advantage of by youths in the state,” said Abdul Karim when closing the ‘Agro Belia’ Seminar at the Youths and Sports Department Complex here yesterday.
He said the somewhat negative perception of farmers should be improved as farmers of today were raking in huge amount of money as compared to those in the old days.
The Asajaya assemblyman also noted that the agriculture sector in Kota Samarahan was thriving by the day, which is proven by the number of lorries going into the constituency to buy bulk agriculture products for the Kuching market.
“I know a few farmers who are selling fruits from their own garden and they are making at least RM3,000 to RM5,000 a month.”
The one day seminar was organised by the National Agriculture Training Council (NATC) under the Ministry of Agriculture and Agro-based Industry. It formed part of the state-level ‘Karnival Fiesta Mesra Belia 1Malaysia’.
“I hope that similar seminars such as this will be extended to other parts of the state,” said Abdul Karim.
NATC director Wan Ahmad Uzir Wan Sulaiman, who also spoke, said the ministry planned to set up a college dedicated to agriculture in Semenggoh.
He said early indications from the state government were positive but this proposal needed more studies before the college could be commissioned.
Currently, NATC is spearheading the nation’s agriculture training by targeting youths who have completed their Form Five examinations and is operating at 12 affiliated centres in the state.
“NATC provides formal and informal trainings as well as up skilling courses to existing farmers with the objective of elevating the nation’s agriculture sector to meet vision 2020.”
He added that courses in NATC were tailored to meet the needs of the agriculture industries, thus making job placements an ease.
More courses and subjects, he said, would be added in the near future, such as cultivating lobsters and seaweeds. -TheBorneoPost
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