Good times ahead for farmers in the north as NCER plans take off

KUALA LUMPUR: The Northern Corridor Economic Region (NCER) is set to receive an economic boost with the implementation of hi-tech contract farming.

This is in line with the government’s call for automation to modernise the nation’s agricultural sector through the efficient use of land and cultivation of cash crops to provide better returns and increase farmers’ income.

Northern Corridor Implementation Authority (NCIA) chief executive Jebasingam Issace John said today they would be introducing the “Anchor Company Business Model” to improve the life of farmers.

Speaking at the close of the NCIA’s 21st council meeting, he said: “It’s a dynamic approach driven by the private sector as nucleus farms, providing satellite farms with technical training, improved processes and strategic inputs to move farming activities up the value chain, with the ultimate arrangement to buy back the produce.”

He said the adoption of the contract farming model would provide a competitive advantage for farmers with the advent of smart farming and precision farming leading to improved agricultural practices and yield.

The meeting was chaired by Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad in Putrajaya. Among those who attended were Deputy Prime Minister Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail, Finance Minister Lim Guan Eng, Economic Affairs Minister Mohamed Azmin Ali and the menteris besar and chief ministers of the four northern states.

Mahathir reminded council members that the agricultural sector played an important role as food provider and that farmers needed to be helped.

“It is heartening to see that NCIA’s endeavours in agri-business are in line with the nation’s shared prosperity agenda. With high-yielding crops, farmers can achieve higher levels of productivity and income.”

The meeting was told that the NCER was on track to deliver on its RM12 billion committed investment target for this year, having already attracted RM8.7 billion.

It has also created 7,931 jobs as of June.

The meeting was told that strategic and high-impact projects, such as the Kedah Rubber City, Kedah Science & Technology Park and Chuping Valley Industrial Area, were making progress and that the first phases of implementation will commence by the end of the year.

The Global Business Centre in Ipoh is on track to advance the region as a digital economy hub, attracting high-income knowledge workers, while Penang will have the NCER test engineering hub to strengthen the local and foreign electrical and electronics ecosystem.

Talking about the contract farming model, Issace said it would “transform the agriculture sector from a conventional and passive domain focusing on single commodity to a dynamic, diversified and modern one that contributes significantly to the region and which is aligned with the national agenda”.

“The brand and presence of established anchor companies will provide fertile ground for new investment opportunities to reinvigorate the agricultural sector and also create visible spillover effects for the community, notably with agrotourism supplementing the income of the farming community.

He hoped that besides accelerating entrepreneurship ecosystems throughout NCER, the vigorous training and establishment of standard operating procedures would result in high-quality and high-value products.

These include superfruits such as lemons and figs, organic rice, pineapples, lowland vegetables and oysters.

Cash crops such as legumes, sweet corn, ginger torch and figs will be planted as integrated crops in existing plots or during off-seasons to provide secondary income to farmers.

“NCIA is progressively moving towards transforming the agriculture sector in NCER through the Fourth Industrial Revolution (IR4.0). This entails the adoption of digital agriculture in precision farming with the help of big data and improvement of mechanisation.

“Thus, the application of the latest research and development technology will allow farmers to benefit from higher yield and better farm management with the application of technology.”

He said the NCIA had already had tangible success from its estate management model (EMM) programme, a strategic partnership between estate farmers and stakeholders that centralises on farm management.

“EMM 1.0 has helped to double the income of farmers via increased padi yield from an average of 4 to 6 tonnes per season.

“Anchoring on this success, EMM 2.0, targetted to produce a yield of 8 tonnes of rice per hectare per season, will be launched with IR4.0 precision farming. This is apart from basic infrastructure such as irrigation and tertiary drainage systems.

“We are cognisant of the prime minister’s recent call for investments in the high-technology sector as the nation seeks to provide high income for the rakyat, who are now better trained and equipped to work with new equipment and machinery.”

Source: Freemalaysiatoday.com

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