YOUNG people are interested in the agriculture sector but there are various factors preventing them from pursuing it, industry players said.

They said this in response to Deputy Agriculture and Food Security Minister Chan Foong Hin’s claim that Malaysian youth have no interest to work in the field of agriculture.

Chan said the disinterest is the reason why the sector has to rely on foreign labour to stay in business.

Young people who wish to become farmers have many hurdles to overcome, said Alvin Lo, who is Malaysia Fruit Farmers Association deputy chairman.

First and foremost, there is a lack of suitable land for farming, he told The Malaysian Insight.

Lo said one of the key problems prospective farmers face is that some landowners prefer to lease their land to foreigners.

He said this is an issue the government needs to look into.

“Next, they need a lot of capital.”

Lo said the initial outlay could be hefty, hence discouraging a young person from trying out their hand at farming.

“If they don’t already have land, they need to purchase one and the cost could be quite substantial.

“Maybe it is not that high if they could acquire government land to work on. Still, capital is needed to buy farm equipment, which is another huge financial investment.

“So it’s not quite right if you say young people are not interested in working in agriculture. It’s rather that the entry barriers are high,” he said.

Lo said the instability of agricultural product prices has also influenced young people’s decision.

“Their income would similarly be unstable, discouraging many from entering agriculture.

Lo, who is also Johor Fruit Farmers Association chairman, said unless youngsters have land of their own or continue working on inherited land, it would be very challenging to attract youth into the industry.

He cited durian farming as a prime example why young people are very interested in agriculture.

“With the cultivation of durians becoming very lucrative, many second-generation farmers have returned to the countryside to plant the fruit.”

Federation of Vegetable Farmers Associations president Lim Ser Kwee agreed with Lo.

“When there is no land available to cultivate, many, particularly the older farmers, would work on whatever land they could find illegally.

“In such situations, how can young people be willing to follow in their parents’ footsteps and continue cultivating on illegal land?

“There’s no future that way. If they have their own land, it’s a different story.

“They can implement modern systems for cultivation.”

Lim said one government initiative that could entice young people to farming is to establish permanent food production zones.

“Or it could allocate land for cultivation.

“It’s not feasible to ask the young to buy land for vegetable farming as the cost is too high. No young person would be so foolhardy to make such a high investment.

“If the government wants to encourage young people farm, there must be incentives for them.”

Cameron Highlands Chinese Farmers Association deputy president Cheng Nam Hong said in Cameron Highlands, there has been a significant influx of young people venture into agriculture in the past decade.

He said very often in the past, highland parents would send their children to Kuala Lumpur for better education and the young ones never returned home.

The trend is different now, he said.

Cheng said after completing their studies, a growing number of these highland children do return home to help their parents in their farms.

“These young people bring with them new and innovative farming practices that gradually change how their parents do things.”

Cheng said their earning from the farm is even better than most salaried people working in Kuala Lumpur.

“They could easily make more than RM3,000 a month.”

Like Lo and Lim, Cheng said the government must make more land available for farming if it wants to encourage young people to engage in agriculture.

“Address the issue of land scarcity. That’s key. Otherwise, everything is just mere talk.

“If the government is willing to allocate land, it shows that the government cares about agriculture and allows young people to see the prospects of agriculture.”

Cheng said Malaysia has a lot of land suitable for agricultural purposes.

He suggested that the Agriculture and Food Security Ministry work with the various state governments to draw up a plan to attract young people into farming.

“I believe we can see results in three to five years.”

He said the country would not need to import so much food. – November 26, 2023.