Sabah students sent overseas to learn Japanese agricultural technology

 By Olivia Miwil - March 3, 2023 @ 10:24am

Sabah Deputy Chief Minister Datuk Seri Dr Jeffrey Kitingan (third from left) presenting scrolls to a graduate during KPD-OISCA Youth Training Center convocation at Lagud Seberang, Tenom yesterday. - Pic courtesy of Datuk Seri Jeffrey Kitingan.

TENOM: Sabah is sending its people to learn agricultural technology in Japan to improve food security in the state.

Deputy Chief Minister Datuk Seri Dr Jeffrey Kitingan said on Feb 28, KPD-OISCA Youth Training Center has sent its outstanding students to OISCA Training Centers in Japan.

Jeffrey, who is also state Agriculture, Fisheries and Food Industry minister, also added that another two more students would follow suit this month.

The five are under the sponsorship of OISCA International Japan for advanced training for a period of up to three years.

"The journey to gain knowledge does not end here after you graduate. Learning and gaining knowledge is a continuous process.

"Knowledge will be a life supply for graduates to build career excellence and sow devotion towards family, nation and country, especially our beloved state of Sabah.

"We know that agricultural technology in Japan is very advanced and I hope this opportunity is used as best as possible to build the country's knowledge and bring it back to Sabah for mutual benefit," he said in a statement after attending the training centre Lagud Seberang here yesterday.

The Tambunan assemblyman added that in the past, agriculture was seen as a rough field of work.

However, he said now agriculture had become the basis of a sustainable economy, which could actually be a basis for people to get out of poverty and that of a profitable business.

"The need for skilled manpower in the field of agriculture today is seen as very important where the issue of food security is one of the main issues in the State of Sabah and Malaysia in general.

"As we know, the level of food sufficiency or rice SSL is still at a low level and needs to be increased from the current level of 22-23 to 60 per cent in 2030. Likewise the level of meat food production."

The ceremony saw 54 graduates of the KPD-OISCA Youth Training Center receiving their respective certificates after undergoing training for 16 months.

The graduates had attended the Mushroom Crop Management Programme, the Food Processing Programme, the Rice Production Operations Supervision Programme, the Poultry Farm Operations Programme and the Crop Production Operations Programme.