Uggah to launch SDNU’s digital farming conference
KUCHING: Deputy Chief Minister Datuk Amar Douglas Uggah, who is also Minister of Modernisation of Agriculture, Native Land and Regional Development, has been invited to launch the Sarawak Dayak National Union’s ( SDNU) conference on digital farming.
SDNU will soon launch its promotional programmes on digital farming for the rural community in collaboration with Uggah’s ministry.
Uggah will be invited to officiate at the opening of the conference and deliver a keynote address on precision farming, said SDNU through a press statement received here yesterday.
Several papers on precision farming and digital technology applications will be presented at the conference by speakers with expertise and experience in digital technology, SDNU president Tan Sri William Mawan said in a statement yesterday.
The conference, which will be held in Sarikei and participated by SDNU members from throughout the state as well as local agropreneurs, is a landmark event for SDNU and the rural farming community as it sets the wheel for precision farming in motion.
SDNU executive committee, meanwhile, will be meeting on Feb 11 to finalise the programmes and action plans for the conference.
Mawan said this in response to an earlier media statement by Uggah who welcomed SDNU’s initiative to promote digital technology to the rural farming community.
Uggah had said his ministry was supportive of SDNU’s plan and would extend the necessary support and cooperation to ensure its success in transforming the mindset of the rural community and raising their economic productivity.
Uggah was quoted as saying that SDNU had an important role to play in collaboration with his ministry to draw up strategies and action plans to educate and train the rural farmers on precision farming and the use of other relevant digital technology applications.
Mawan, who is Saratok MP and Pakan assemblyman, concurred with Uggah that efforts to change the mindset of rural farmers and transform their approach to farming were challenging and would require an integrated and sustainable programme.
He added SDNU, with its state-wide network comprising more than 60,000 members, was prepared to embark on the challenge to complement the efforts of the state government to transform the rural agricultural community.
Mawan said SDNU’s plan would complement the efforts of the Sarawak government under Chief Minister Datuk Patinggi Abang Johari Tun Abang Openg in accelerating the usage of digital applications in all the major growth sectors.
This would enable SDNU and the community it serves to move in tandem with the government’s thrust on digital technology.
“As an NGO, with a large ruralbased membership spread across the state, SDNU is committed to playing the role of a partner of progress to assist the state government in advancing the cause of digital technology and help transform the rural economy,” said Mawan.