Seremban - An expert said today it is not impossible for makers of the "keropok lekor" snack made of fish meat sold to largely Malay customers to evolve into producers of breakfast sausages for the world.
Institute of Strategic and International Studies (ISIS) Director-General Dr Mahani Zainal Abidin said they would only have to see the scope that their traditional business can grow into and move in that direction.
For this to happen, farmers and agriculture workers have to upgrade their skills to modernise agriculture, and as such the government has to introduce lifelong learning, including under an open university concept, for these people, she said when presenting a working paper at a special forum at the National Agriculture Convention 2007, here.
Dr Mahani said the government should also introduce a skills-based education system, such as the vocational medium, which took into account experience and skills in the awarding of qualifications.
She said 70 per cent of the farmers and agriculture workers only had primary education or less and 68 per cent of smallholders earned less than RM510 a month and owned 1.5 hectares of land on the average.
Dr Mahani said modern-day agriculture was scientific with various standards that could not be understood by lowly-educated farmers to come up with agricultural products acceptable to the world market.
She also said that the government should provide educational opportunities for young people to venture into the agricultural sector, especially those who had studied up to Penilaian Menengah Rendah (PMR), to establish a second echelon.
This group of Form Three school-leavers usually sought jobs and bought motorcycles for themselves without a heed for the employment opportunities in the agricultural sector that could provide them with equal, if not better, returns.
Besides Dr Mahani, former deputy prime minister and Synergy Drive Bhd chairman Tun Musa Hitam, National Cooperative Organisation of Malaysia (Angkasa) president Royal Professor Ungku A. Aziz and PFM Capital Sdn Bhd chairman Tan Sri Arshad Ayob attended the forum conducted by Negeri Sembilan Menteri Besar Datuk Seri Mohammad Hassan.
Meanwhile, Arshad proposed that the National Service Training Programme also focus on agricultural activities to kindle the interest of youngsters to become successful agricultural entrepreneurs.
Even schools should revive the agriculture science subject to enable the younger generation to have a basic understanding of the agricultural sector, he said.
The two-day convention carrying the theme "Malays in Agriculture: Past, Present and Future" began yesterday, and is organised by the Agriculture and Agro-based Industry Ministry, Umno‘s Agriculture Bureau and the Negeri Sembilan Umno Liaison Committee.
It is aimed at creating awareness, particularly among Umno members, on the importance of the agriculture industry in the Malay economy.
Source: www.bernama.com.my (29 Oktober 2007)
