MoA targets to produce 1,200 young agropreneur next year

KOTA BELUD, Nov 18 -- The Ministry of Agriculture and Agro-based Industry (MoA) is targeting 1,200 entrepreneurs to be trained under the young agropreneur programme next year.

MoA’s secretary-general Datuk Mohd Sallehuddin Hassan said the government has allocated RM20 million under the young agropreneur grant (GAM) to help increase productivity and income of agropreneurs.

“To achieve this goal, the MOA is touring the country to identify potential entrepreneurs,” he told reporters in conjunction with the Sabah Young Agropreneur Tour programme in Kampung Tambotouan here yesterday.

This programme covers agriculture, livestock, fisheries, agro-based industries, agro-tourism and marketing that can be used by entrepreneurs, aged between 18 and 40.

He said for Sabah, 449 entrepreneurs had participated in the programme from Jan 2016 to Oct 30, this year, with an allocation of RM6.1 million.

Meanwhile, Mohd Sallehuddin also noted that Sabah has a big potential to produce food products as it has a large land area for crops cultivation.

Currently, he said the country was still importing about RM52 billion worth of of food products from abroad.

“Therefore, we see Sabah as one of the states that can produce agricultural products to reduce food imports from abroad,” he said.

--BERNAMA