SANDAKAN, March 20 — About 95 per cent of participants of the Young Agropreneur Programme nationwide under the Agriculture and Food Industries Ministry have managed to increase their income.
Director of the ministry’s Young Agropreneur Unit, Mohammad Ezri Shamsuddin said the target of raising their income by over 50 per cent has been achieved since the programme was offered in 2016.
“In fact, the ministry has programme icons, who among them, are now millionaires in the agriculture sector,” he told reporters after the Beluran District Agro Entrepreneurs Clinic Programme, here, today.
Asked on participants who failed to increase their income, Mohammad Ezri said the ministry would continue to help them by offering advisory services.
“The Young Agropreneur Programme grant is a one-off thing but the ministry will assist them rise again from failure in their agriculture endeavour.
“We are aware that doing business is not easy. But the ministry always encourages youths to venture into agriculture and to remain active in the field,” he added.
Earlier, Iswan Sonteng, political secretary to the minister, said the programme had assisted 6,969 young agropreneurs aged 18 to 40, with 6,908 of them receiving grants amounting to RM121.96 million while the other 16 received aid for funding totalling RM4.26 million since 2016.
In Sabah, he said, 534 young agropreneurs received grants amounting to RM8 million since 2016 and another 86 receiving a total of RM1.65 million in 2020, compared to 73 receiving it in 2019 and 23 in 2018.
— Bernama
