By Zareef Muzammil
SHAH ALAM, Dec 30 — The Selangor government is actively modernising agriculture so that quality and profitable results can be produced from the limited land area in the state, says Menteri Besar Dato’ Seri Amirudin Shari.
Amirudin said a total of RM26.4 million was allocated to spur agriculture technologies such as fertigation, hydroponic, nutrient film technique, plantation factory, controlled environment (farming) technology and aquaponic next year.
“The evolution of agriculture which started from farming has since developed into the application of the fertigation, aquaculture and drone utilisation methods.
“The usage of digital technology such as the technology of Internet of Things (IoT), Big Data analytics and artificial intelligence (AI) have become prevalent around the world,” he said on Facebook.
He said that the IoT will be prioritised to ensure that the agriculture sector is not left behind from the 4.0 Industrial Revolution (IR4.0).
Amirudin explained that the strategy guarantees the state’s food security although the land for agriculture to manufacture products only covers 12 per cent of the total landbank in Selangor.
The Belanjawan Selangor 2021 (2021 Selangor Budget) allocated RM26.4 million to develop the agriculture sector by outlining five main thrusts that cover high-value agriculture, environment-friendly and sustainable agriculture, IoT usage, human resource development and agrotourism.
The steps, among others, will be to ensure that the farming community would be able to yield profitable returns and, in turn, encourage more people to tap into the field of agriculture.
