Azlan Othman
Seventeen youth received certificates during a presentation in a closing ceremony for a Youth Farming programme at Horticulture Business Centre in Rimba recently. Acting Director of Agriculture and Agrifood Hajah Masliana Yuliah binti Abdullah attended.
The programme, attended by 25 youth, aimed to encourage more youth to engage in agriculture and expose them to the profitable industry, especially in crops industry using high technology to boost production. It included briefings and study visits to local farms emphasising on various systems and production technology with the young farmers’ capabilities.
The briefing covered training on non-seasonal vegetable and fruit farming using high technology such as fertigation system, financial management and investment opportunities in the crop industry.
To date, five programmes have been carried out since its introduction in 2018, involving over 80 youth aged 18 to 45.
The majority of the participants are undergraduates of foreign and local higher learning institutions such as Institute of Brunei Technical Education (IBTE), Universiti Brunei Darussalam (UBD), Universiti Teknologi Brunei (UTB) and Universiti Islam Sultan Sharif Ali (UNISSA).
The Youth Farming programme is hoped to foster interests among the youth to engage in agriculture and in turn, support and realise His Majesty Sultan Haji Hassanal Bolkiah Mu’izzaddin Waddaulah ibni Al-Marhum Sultan Haji Omar ‘Ali Saifuddien Sa’adul Khairi Waddien, Sultan and Yang Di-Pertuan of Brunei Darussalam’s aspiration to boost the nation’s standard of living and economy, while producing highly skilled people in the field of agriculture and agrifood in line with Brunei Vision 2035.
