Welcome Rakan Sarawak February 2005

Rangkaian Khidmat Awam Negeri Sarawak

A MONTHLY SUPPLEMENT OF RAKAN SARAWAK BULLETIN

(People, events, activities and programmes which make for a total quality-managed Sarawak Civil Service)

ISSN 1394-5726

Online Publisher:

Contents provided by:

Introduce New Methods of Farming…Agriculture Officers Urged to be
Innovative to Modernise Agro-Industry

Variety…locally-grown vegetables are in
high demand. Eating plenty of vegetables
can be good for you

At the recent Senior Agriculture Officers Conference 2005 in Kuching, the Minister of Modernisation of Agriculture, Tan Sri Datuk Amar Dr, George Chan called on agriculturalists to be more innovative in order to modernise the agro-industry in Sarawak.

He said that the shift in direction naturally calls for changes and improvement in the way things are done.

“Sometimes, it may be necessary to overhaul certain things completely. Foremost in your mind should be concern on how programmes can be delivered to have its impact on the target group. We have to innovate and create new implementation mechanisms by reviewing existing mechanisms in the Department of Agriculture. Therefore, our approach in the Ninth Malaysia Plan (9MP) cannot be ‘business as usual’.”

While praising the department for being quite successful in developing and adapting to technologies which could improve agricultural productivity and efficiency, the application of technologies and modern farming methods were still lacking behind on the ground.

In other words, a very big gap exists between the technology provider and the end user. That is why he noted that the extension service of the department should be doing much more than just administering and dispensing assistance to farmers.

“The extension service should emphasize more on advisory services to farmers on many aspects of agriculture and modern agriculture such as teaching farmers on proper use of technology, proper planting techniques, proper use of planting materials and in general the adoption of Good Agricultural Practices. In essence, extension services should aim at communicating to the farmers various aspects of modern agricultural practices and as such, extension services should be more interactive.”

There is thus a need to redefine the job role of the extension staff so that they can be more effective in their performance as front-line workers. It may be necessary for the Department to retrain the extension staff to equip them with the relevant technical knowledge and also the right attitude. Thus, a major overhaul of the existing extension service becomes necessary.

Dr. Chan also urged the department to work closely with the private sector so that entrepreneurs can pursue agricul ure -related enterprises in a good business environment that will flourish naturally in response to market forces.