Need to erase stigma towards vocation in agriculture: Ahmad Shabery

SERDANG: The Agriculture and Agro-industry Ministry is determined to change the public's mindset towards the field of agriculture, which is always seen as a 'domain of the poor' and incapable of generating wealth.
Its minister, Datuk Seri Ahmad Shabery Cheek (pix) said the agrofood sector, for instance, should be given a new perception so that people would start viewing agriculture as a sector which could be an important economic source to raise their standard of living.
"Through dramas or films, we've always been fed with the image of farming or rice growing being carried out by poor villagers and which gives no lucrative returns.
"In this regard, the ministry is determined to change the public stigma towards agriculture to the point where the agrofood sector will be seen as a new source of wealth and people saying that one does not need to be a doctor or engineer to accumulate wealth, but be an agropreneur instead as a career choice."
Ahmad Shabery said this in his speech text read by the ministry's secretary-general Datuk Seri Dr Ismail Bakar at the opening of the Ikatan Profesor Indonesia dan Malaysia (IPIMA) Agriculture Forum, here, today.
Themed 'Agriculture Transformation Towards Regional Sustainable Prosperity: Malaysia-Indonesia', the four-day forum organised by the National Council of Professors is aimed at adopting new ideas in facing the food security challenges by both countries.
"Agrofood is an important sector in realising the government's efforts in steering Malaysia to become a high-income, developed nation," Ahmad Shabery said.
"Besides ensuring food security, this sector also provides the spaces and opportunities which can be explored in creating new sources of wealth that will not only benefit the socio-economic players but also contribute to the country's economic growth."
The minister said in making the agrofood industry a career choice offering high income, small-scale farmers like the traditional and subsistence farmers using little technology would be assisted towards modernising their farming system.
He said their transformation and modernisation process would be assisted by the departments and agencies under the ministry such as the Agriculture Department, Federal Agricultural Marketing Authority (FAMA) and Malaysian Agricultural Research and Development Institute (MARDI). — Bernama