COVID-19 impact: Young blood needed in agriculture for continuity

National Farmers’ Organisation (Nafas) board of directors member Datuk Nazilah Abd Latif said the implementation of the Movement Control Order (MCO) since March 18 had made an impact on the importance of sufficient food supply and why it must be made a priority.

“The main problem afflicting the agriculture sector is that the industry players are mostly from the elderly and aged group who may find it difficult to adapt themselves to technological advances.

“We have to start grooming the younger generation to be involved in this sector. It requires strong strategies to ensure they are professionally involved using new methods and ditching the old ones,” he said.

He said this at the Suara Profesor Negara programme in which the topic Post COVID-19: Income-Generating Strategies Through Agriculture and Fishery, produced by Bernama with the cooperation of the National Professors Council (NPC) was discussed.

Besides this, Nazilah said the farming spirit must be inculcated as early as the school-going years to help produce more successful farmers, this through a learning system that offers agricultural studies that could attract students’ interest.

University Putra Malaysia (UPM) Agriculture Faculty lecturer Prof Dr Ghizan Saleh said although agricultural studies was an academic choice for many university graduates, not many venture into it as a choice of career as they tend to view agriculture as a backward field.

“We have to convert our agriculture sector to one that is supported by modern technology. Only by making that shift to make the sector more progressive and competitive can we attract the young to venture into this field and apply the right technology,” he said.

Meanwhile, National Fishermen's Association (Nekmat) General Manager Azrin Shah Ismail was of the view that all parties must realise the importance of sufficient food supply, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic period.

“We need more from the younger generation in the fishery sector so there is continuity, especially in deep-sea fishing. Many of the fishermen are aged above 50… the sector severely lacks young blood,” he said.

Azrin also called on the government to draw up strategies to dispel the perception that fishery was only meant for senior citizens, and also to lure more young people into the sector by making available funds and other benefits.