Agriculture and farming are two of the oldest and most essential professions the world over.
The agriculture sector is crucial, indeed. According to the World Bank, farming accounts for four per cent of the world’s gross domestic product in 2018, with certain emerging countries accounting for more than 25 per cent of GDP.
The agricultural sector’s contribution cannot be overlooked because it may be the answer to several challenges the country faces, particularly unemployment, food security, and income discrepancies between rural and urban areas.
As stated in one of the core objectives of Post COVID-19 Development Strategy 2030 (PCDS) which is “To change the economic structure by increasing the scale of production to capture efficiencies upstream, increasing downstream activities and growing the services sector to support the primary and secondary sectors’ activities in a sustainable manner,” agriculture sector in Sarawak will achive it through commercial agriculture sector aims to capitalise on modern farming and global partnerships to accelerate productivity and growth to support higher value-added downstream food processing, especially for export market.
It is time to embrace the Fourth Industrial Revolution (IR 4.0) and promote smart farming. Technologies such as precision agriculture, internet of things (IoT) devices, and automation can significantly enhance efficiency.
Not only that, government should allocate extra resources for agricultural research and development to address challenges faced by farmers especially access to credit and financial services for farmers and agribusinesses to invest in modern equipment, infrastructure, and input necessary in ramping up productivity.
Sarawak Premier, Datuk Patinggi Tan Sri (Dr) Abang Haji Abdul Rahman Zohari bin Tun Datuk Abang Haji Openg, said that Sarawak government plans to set up a special fund to finance the smart agriculture project, which has been successfully conducted by a local (Sarawak) university, to increase the production of the food industry in the state.
Datuk Patinggi Tan Sri (Dr) Abang Haji Abdul Rahman Zohari share the susucess project carrry out by by students and lecturers of ICATS University College in Saratok producing animal feed from biomass.
“I ask them to study related technology. This investment involves a lot of funds and is risky, so there needs to be venture capital to be given to students who choose biotechnology as their career after finishing their studies… we will find a way,” he said.
He said this after officiating the First International Conference on Biotechnology, Smart Farming, and Entrepreneurship for Food Security in Kuching.
Modern farming is becoming more popular with the younger generation.
Nurturing young talents and extensive adaptation of modern farming are the keys for Sarawak and Malaysia to achieve sustainable food security and economic growth.
Farming is no longer a “third-class” career because it has the potential to yield a sizeable profit today.
Agricultural activities can mitigate urbanisation, keeping young people in rural areas, where they can contribute to the area’s development together.
The new generation of farmers finds modern farming appealing due to its ease of work, from running the farm, prepping the field for planting to harvesting using only smartphones.
Modern agricultural technologies that help automate the crop or livestock production cycle range from robotics and drones to computer vision software.
