Malaysia’s agriculture sector has been urged to transform itself from the current labour intensive model to technology-based model by leveraging the government’s initiatives aimed at promoting mechanisation and automation, as well as human capital development through structured training programmes, said Deputy Plantation and Commodities Minister Datuk Chan Foong Hin
Agro-industry firms are encouraged to adopt Internet of Things (IoT) technology, and mechanise and automate the spraying of insecticides and fertilisers using drones at their oil palm plantation sites, he added.
“Mechanisation not only speeds up work process and increases productivity, but it also helps reduce dependency on manual labour and foreign workers,” said the Deputy Minister.
Additionally, the government has provided tax exemption through the Accelerated Capital Allowance (ACA) for agro-firms investing in capital assets such as smart plantation technology, the Deputy Minister said when answering query from Wan Hassan Mohd Ramli (Perikatan Nasional-Dungun) at the parliament today.
He noted that his ministry, via the Institute of Malaysian Plantation and Commodities, is offering various training courses and programmes, including the Farm Mechanisation Operators course (Malaysian Palm Oil Training Centre), Certificate in Rubber Technology (Hevea Academy Malaysia) and Certificate in Furniture Making (Wood Industry Skills Development Centre, Wisdec).
The offered programmes are based on Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) principles and fulfill Malaysian Skills Certification Levels Two and Three accredited by the Malaysian Qualifications Agency (MQA), according to the Deputy Minister.
