KUCHING: Sarawak could benefit from Singapore’s expertise on vertical farming and its modern agricultural practices, said Deputy Premier Datuk Amar Douglas Uggah.
“This will make it very trendy and attractive to, especially the new breed of young educated farmers in urban areas.
“We want to encourage more young people to take up modern agriculture as their profession so that we can increase our production of food and food products,” he said when welcoming Singapore High Commissioner Vanu Gopala Menon to his office yesterday (Mar 4).
Vanu was on an official visit to the state.
Uggah underscored Sarawak’s focus on increasing rice production, aiming for 60 per cent self-sufficiency by 2030, with plans to leverage technological solutions such as drones for fertilisation and monitoring. And highlighting the appeal of utilising modern technology to enhance agricultural environments, particularly among young urban farmers.
He went on to emphasise the importance of high-yielding hybrid seeds and mechanical harvesters to enhance productivity and increase farmers’ incomes, thereby addressing economic disparities within the state.
Although Sarawak has been declared as a high income state, he added, there are still people with low or little income.
“So helping them to increase their income is also very important to the government,” added Uggah.
