By Ashley Sim
KUCHING, May 17: The adoption rate for modern agricultural technologies among the farming community in Sarawak remains significantly low primarily due to high investment costs and a lack of skills and knowledge in this area.
Deputy Minister for Food Industry, Commodity, and Regional Development (M-Ficord) Datuk Dr Abdul Rahman Ismail emphasised the potential benefits of using modern agricultural technologies like information technology, the Internet of Things (IoT), and Artificial Intelligence (AI) to enhance production efficiency, achieve higher yields, and ensure food security.
“This will also attract the younger generation to be involved in agriculture activities,” he said when responding to Satok assemblyman Dato Ibrahim Baki’s questions in today’s question-and-answer session in the Sarawak Legislative Assembly (DUN) sitting here.
Ibrahim inquired about M-Ficord’s initiatives to harness the use of AI in agriculture in Sarawak to bolster food security in the region and their plans for commercialisation.
Dr Abdul Rahman responded by providing examples of precision farming technologies already being employed in Sarawak, such as smart feeders and smart paddle wheels in shrimp farming.
“The system has been successfully implemented by a private company on their shrimp farms at Luba Stoh, Santubong, Telaga Ai, and Sambir since 2019 and has produced good result in term of better quality and higher production by more than 50 per cent compared to conventional methods.
“The same system is currently being piloted for 20 tilapia farmers at Batang Ai in collaboration with Pertubuhan Peladang Negeri Sarawak with the intention to raise the monthly income of the farmers to at least RM6,000 per month from around RM1,000 currently,” he explained.
Dr Abdul Rahman, who is also Bukit Kota assemblyman, further highlighted the Ministry’s various initiatives to promote the adoption of modern agricultural technologies in Sarawak.
These include providing training and extension services on modern agriculture, developing Precision Farming Park and Sarawak Agro-technology Park (Sartech), collaborating with private sectors and institutions to advance smart agricultural technologies, and offering financial support in the form of grants and loans. — DayakDaily
