39 trainees recognised as best agriculture operators
KOTA KINABALU: A total of 45 trainees from Pusat Latihan Pertanian Bersepadu in Putatan, graduated yesterday.
The trainees had successfully undergone the 12-month training at the centre, said Deputy Chief Minister cum Agriculture and Food Industry Minister Datuk Seri Panglima Yahya Hussin during the graduation ceremony yesterday.
Out of the 45 trainees, 39 were accorded the recognition as the best agriculture operators.
Yahya reminded that agriculture was one of Sabah’s halatuju and his ministry was focusing on the development of food plants to raise the production of food supply in Sabah, reduce its import bill and consequently, realise the potential of Sabah’s agricultural produce for the export market.
In his speech, he also urged that focus be given to agricultural products with good marketing potential, capable of bringing high returns.
At the same time, he also said agriculturalists must adopt good agriculture practice and endeavour to acquire required certifications such as myGAP, myOrganic, MeSTI, Halal and others to raise the confidence of consumers.
Meanwhile, Agriculture Department director Idrus Shafie said the graduates were their 21st batch of trainees and so far, they had already trained 710 people.
He said that while the requirements to enter the programme was the Sijil Pelajaran Malaysia (SPM), they had also received trainees with diplomas.
He added the centre in Putatan had introduced the Incubator Project which would encourage trainees to have hands-on practice and produce outputs that were marketable throughout Sabah.
Trainees from the 21st batch had successfully accumulated an income of RM80,333.20 which was the highest achievement so far, he said.