Youth participation in agriculture still low

LIPIS: The involvement of youth in agriculture in the country is still low, at only 240,000 people or 15 per cent of the total farmers in Malaysia.

Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Food Industries I Datuk Seri Ahmad Hamzah said that one of the contributing factors that caused young people to be less interested in agriculture was the perception that the sector did not bring lucrative returns.

"This is not true because the agriculture, livestock and fisheries industries can bring encouraging results when implemented diligently with sufficient knowledge.

"To change this misconception, we are organising the Young Agropreneur Tour, including in Pahang, to provide information, including assistance to those who are serious about venturing into the sector," he said.

Ahmad said this to reporters after officiating the Pahang Young Agropreneur Tour programme at Laman Sejahtera Sungai Koyan here today, apart from visiting the vegetable fertigation project site in Kampung Sanglang, Penjom and the MD2 pineapple planting project site in Batu 13 Jalan Lipis / Benta.

He said the ministry will continue to help young agropreneurs by providing various forms of assistance, and in Pahang, a total of RM1.49 million has been allocated this year to help 77 eligible young agropreneurs.

"Each participant is given a maximum assistance of RM20,000 in the form of goods, and those who want to develop their products are assisted through financing under the National Entrepreneur Group Economic Fund (Tekun Nasional) of up to RM50,000 and loans from Agrobank of up to RM200,000.

"Apart from financial assistance, we are also providing advice on how to properly manage farms and businesses with the goal of producing quality crops so that they can be successfully marketed abroad," he said.

Meanwhile, a young agropreneur grant recipient, Amerul Affendi, 35, who runs a buffalo breeding farm in Kampung Kelibut, Temerloh near here, expressed his desire to widen the enclosure with the allocation he received.

Amerul, who is also a popular actor and starred in movies including 'Polis Evo', 'Pekak', 'Paskal' and 'Crossroad...One Two Jaga' as well as television series, said that he needs to widen the enclosure due to the increase in the number of buffaloes on his farm for the past four years. Now it could barely house the existing 27 buffaloes.

"Currently, only seven buffaloes can be housed in the enclosure and the number is expected to increase to 50 in the future, so I need to provide a bigger and stronger enclosure.

"'Alhamdulillah' (praise be to Allah), my involvement in rearing buffaloes gives me a more stable income to manage my monthly expenses compared with acting," he said.

-- BERNAMA