Agriculture in Limbo

(20-July-2014)

Where is our agriculture heading to ?

On one end we have politicians, the academia, agricultural market leaders, economist, socio-economic analyst and the list can keep on increasing……saying “the humongous opportunity of our agricultural products and it’s diversity has the potential of being successfully marketed both locally and internationally”.

On the other end we also have voices grumbling about the lack of activity of agriculture throughout the country and the situation needs to be repaired otherwise we will loose our opportunity to supply to the OIC countries, the ASEAN countries and will eventually loose our competitive edge to compete. Even the halal business is being controlled by non-bumi entrepreneurs and ironically we know that the consumers are 80 – 85 percent bumiputras. Why can’t the bumis get into the halal business ? What is so difficult. What has the Government done that the situation is like this ? WHY ?

So how halal is our halal food that is made available to us ?

Even meehun produced by non-bumis and produced under unhygienic conditions are being packed nicely with a mosque being printed as a brand. Is this being allowed sparingly without much care and to disguise it for the benefit of the muslim consumers.

So….what is/are our real problem(s) ?

Allah has bestowed upon us with a country that is blessed with relatively very stable Government ever since the date of our independence. Allah has provided us with good agricultural environment such as good soil, plentiful of water supply for the agricultural use, right amount of sunshine, abundance of natural flora and fauna and not to say the least…..very limited natural disasters.

Again….what is our real problem(s) ?

Are we addressing the problem(s) at the root end ? Meaning do we understand what the problems are ?

The Minister of Agriculture at one time wanted to create a new university to address the agricultural problems. Will a new campus under a different management and a new name make a significant difference and impact to the agricultural scenario ?

The answer is….ofcourse NO.

It may even cause more problem(s).

It would mean more public funds will have to be used to make a new university. The expertise just don’t grow off the tree….so you have to manned the university from the current human resource pool of expertise meaning from the existing professors and lecturers of UPM or even engage already retired lecturers who may or may not be up-to-date which the technology of the day.

I personally have heard that the agricultural graduates of today is not as good as those of yesteryears. It is not that the graduates are BAD but the way that the students were being recruited to be students of agriculture in UPM or any where else and the way that they are being trained or taught nowadays.

Prior to the 90’s……agriculture was one of the main focal point. Agricultural education take precedence. Students were at one time being interviewed just to get a place in Kolej Pertanian Malaya (KPM). One must not discount the fact that during the bad times through the years since independence till now…..I can say that agriculture has been there at the doorsteps of foreign banks and foreign investors to save the nation. Rubber and Palm Oil has always been there to be our perennial saviour plus the lesser known crops but none-the-less contribute to the GNP.  More credit and attention should be given to the agricultural sector and agricultural education. This is a very serious matter.

Students were required to study basic sciences and living sciences. Lots of emphasis were placed on practical trainings, vacation job placements and integrated extention education.

Starting from the mid-80’s…..it seems as though the emphasis was more towards leap-frog industrialization and during this time agriculture lost its emphasis as a bread-and-butter business of Malaysia. It was infrastructure…infrastructure and infrastructure. Even University Pertanian Malaysia lost its name to University Putra Malaysia. Thus loosing its focus of pertanian in University Putra Malaysia.

A man can be dressed as an ULAMAK but does the dress make him into an ULAMAK. We just pray that the man does not turn out to be ular dalam semak. What I am saying is that the name change does not make a graduate a better person….it is the training and getting the right person to be the right agricultural graduate who will be in the field with the farmers…..that should be the objective. Not a graduate who prefers to stay in the air-conditioned office and controlling the farmers without going into the field. This may be an over exaggeration but the meaning is important.

From my discussions with the VC and the Bursar of UPM…..it was revealed that to get students to register for agriculture is a real problem. Difficult to even get 800 students or so.

Why is this so ?

We have gone so call…..sophisticated by using computers to choose the student candidates for all courses that the human factor has been brushed aside. We have become impersonal. No faces, no eyes, no discussions….just serial numbers and this is the result of that.

Agriculture cannot be impersonal. It is a living science. It is a science of human touching bases. It is very holistic in nature.

In the early years (before 1980’s), students apply to be in KPM because they want to do agriculture. Why do they want….maybe because they are interested to learn agriculture and to practice agriculture or to teach agriculture. We know life in agriculture is not plain sailing. Some had to be posted into areas where “jin kena tendang” these were the areas where new schemes like FELDA was being opened then. Posted to Sabah and Sarawak in 1980’s is no joke then. But we still applied to be enrolled into KPM. We were interviewed and shortlisted and some had to go for final interview before being admitted into KPM. That was then.

When we graduated with only a Diploma Pertanian we were sought after even before we graduated because previous graduates had the reputation of being hardy, streetwise, innovative and KPI oriented. Many were even recruited by non-agricultural companies due to the flexibility and versatility of the Diploma Pertanian graduates then. They can do almost any job given to them.

But that was then…………..

What’s wrong with it now ?

Now because of computerization even though a brilliant student applies to take agriculture because he is interested in agriculture, the computer will determine which university he will be placed in and to do what course. Because when he applies to the IPU he has to give three (3) optional choices of courses that he is interested in. And the computer or the computer behind the keyboard will decide for the student.

In the end…..we will have students who are not interested to do agriculture taking agriculture because the computer says so and because not many really want to take agriculture as a course and so they have no other options but to do agriculture by force……

Years down the line we will have lots of agricultural graduates who are not interested in doing or practicing agriculture but being made Agricultural Officers or Assistant Agricultural Officers resulting in them doing the work just to fill up the time or waiting to get a better offer. In a rude way they become agricultural misfits in a very important role and position and achieving very little. The farmers are not getting a fair deal and the nation (Malaysia) is not getting a fair deal and this is where we are at now.

Ofcourse not all agricultural graduate are misfits but that is the gist of it.

We tend to have a mismatch of quality of personnel to job specification in agriculture.

The graduates may have the knowledge but the reality is that we have graduates whose hearts are not really in agriculture because they were forced into agriculture.

Why can’t we have interviews and not computers only to admit students into universities for courses that require human touch.

As mentioned earlier, before the mid-80’s the emphasis in KPM/UPM was theory and practical knowledge in agriculture plus extention education skills and there were lots of in-field training. This is because the soon-to-be graduates will be a major force for the country to move agriculture…..they will be the major engine of change. Knowledge of agricultural science simplified to be transferred to the farmers and this is where the importance of the quality of the graduates are so important.

Upon graduating, back then you would be almost immediately absorbed into the agricultural workforce. However if you are assigned to the government departments then you may be an Agricultural Officer (degree holder) or Assistant Agricultural Officer (diploma holder). At the State level, the officers were provided or given some incentives to stay within their operating area so that they would be near the farmers and be with the farmers even after office hours. Everything can be centered around the officer as he can be met a coffee shops, surau, masjid, community centers and shops, practically there in the area all the time. This was the modus operandi of the agricultural officer…..then.

Now such perks (not really perks) are not being provided to ensure that the required officer be in the area of work. So he may be working in Perlis and staying in Alor Setar (Kedah). They try to come on time but certainly go back on time so that he can reach his home about 40 minutes away not too late to go for the pasar minggu or doing other chores with the family.

If the Government is serious about the state of health of AGRICULTURE in Malaysia……then the Government must relook at the present condition and practice of work as well as to the specification of the workforce.

There is no point in the university producing graduates that the industry is not happy with. Are we producing products that the market wants or desires ? Or are we producing because we have to produce them……it’s like TAKE IT OR LEAVE IT. Surely we can do better for the nation and to ensure that the Malaysian stomachs are being fed regularly and at affordable prices.

HOW DO WE ENTICE STUDENTS TO BE INTERESTED IN AGRICULTURE ?

1.     The university must produce graduates that the market wants.

2.     Courses must be tailor-made to the industry

3.     If agriculture is important to the nation, then the Government should consider providing with incentives or special allowances to be agricultural graduates. Similar to personnel working in specialize fields. Just how important is agriculture to the nation ? Why can’t the authorities provide these agricultural soldiers with government owned housing and these officers are required to stay in that house within the working area thus ensuring that they are with the farmers most of the time. This is where technology transfer is more easily done and confidence build-up to the agency, the Government as well as to the system.

4.     With internet being the “in thing” lots of information can be gathered from but it is never the same without the human factor. How would the aging farmers translate modern technology into practical actions and harvest the yield. This can only be done through a trained human interface.

5.     On the question of aging agricultural population in Malaysia being about 67 years old on the average….I am the Government realized it but what are they going to do about it. If this phenomena is not arrested and a solution to overcome it then we may be faced later with lots of “tanah terbiar” and the land become more uneconomical to work on. This is because the younger rural youth are not interested to in the agricultural business as it is being looked at as inferior in nature

6.     How do we get the younger generation to be genuinely interested in the agricultural business. I am not talking about the “flash of the pan” type of promo agricultural business where newspaper and tv coverage is being hyped up and after a season or two…..it fizzles away. The key word here is GENUINELY INTERESTED not just because the Government have a program to get agriculture moving. If that is the case then it will only be a short term program and will not last.

7.     Also agriculture must now be on a commercial scale operation. This cannot be done unless unproductive size fields can be contiguous to the next and making them more sizable and more economically viable in nature to operate at commercial scale. This is because more efficient machines are being used with less interruptions of land division boundaries and less manpower to do the whole work. Thus it becomes a more efficient operation and will result in a cheaper operational cost per unit of yield production.  

In short…..the Government must view the profession as an agriculturalist as important to the national interest. Therefore the Government should UPGRADE the status of the agricultural human resource chain. The officers should be proud to be an agriculturalist and that agriculture is a noble field to be involve with.

To the public….the agricultural officers must be viewed to be “special” then only we can expect to have more people to apply to be in the Faculty of Agriculture or in the agricultural sciences as student…..better scholarship scheme, better training methods and better potential to go up the promotion ladder in the long run.

Without these serious considerations……agriculture will remain in it’s present dismal situation. Then we have nobody to blame but to the policy makers.

Please bear in mind that….that hungry stomachs may and could lead towards future anarchy. Once the ball of anarchy starts to roll….there is no way you can stop it easily.

TAKE HEED.