BOTH private and government-owned companies, including Khazanah Nasional Bhd, are encouraged to invest in the large-scale farming of fruits and vegetables so as to reduce Malaysia’s RM60 billion food import bill, said Dr Mahathir Mohamad.

The prime minister said at present, major firms are focused on palm oil and rubber, whose prices are subject to market volatility, whereas fruit and vegetable farming has a high revenue potential.

“Today, I visited the Green Tech Farm that uses modern technology to produce various types of vegetables, such as tomato, eggplant, cucumber and chilli, which are exported to Russia with lucrative returns,” he told Malaysian media in Baku yesterday.

Dr Mahathir took time off from his busy 18th Non-Aligned Movement Summit schedule to visit Azersun Holding’s 35ha farm, which employs state-of-the-art technology to grow organic vegetables.

Asked whether Putrajaya will encourage Khazanah to invest in vegetable farming instead of focusing mainly on overseas investments, he said there are no objections should the company be keen to pursue the sector.

“Khazanah can (invest)... but it’s not just the government; the private sector, too, needs to get involved. Khazanah shifted their focus (to investments abroad) because the domestic (investment) climate was not encouraging, and the previous leadership was not encouraging it as well.”

Private companies should get involved in fruit and vegetable farming, he said, adding that to emulate the Green Tech Farm model, large investments are required.

Dr Mahathir said graduates’ attitude of shunning the agriculture sector when seeking jobs must change.

“I once visited the farm at Universiti Putra Malaysia, formerly known as Universiti Pertanian Malaysia. It was well-organised, and produced a good yield.

“However, after leaving university, graduates don’t want to be involved in farming, opting instead for government and office jobs.”

In these cases, he said, the agricultural skills acquired are underutilised. – Bernama, October 27, 2019.