Christopher Teh, head of Universiti Putra Malaysia’s land management department, said the low number of young people in agriculture posed a threat to Malaysia’s food security.
A government report has revealed that only 22.2% of individual agricultural operators were aged between 15 and 45.
Teh said Indonesia struggled with the same issue with youngsters only making up 3.55% of farmers, while about two-thirds of farmers in the Philippines did not want their children to go into farming.
He said there was a negative perception that a career in agriculture would not yield adequate financial returns compared with a white-collared job which often came with “status”.
“Farmers are still tied to the image of rural poverty and challenging physical work, which doesn’t line up with the aspirations of the younger generation, who are more attracted to high-technology careers with social prestige.
“Although modern agriculture now involves state of the art technology and presents the potential of reaping good profits, this negative perception remains. And other sectors offer more attractive fixed salaries,” he told FMT.
On Thursday, the government released the interim report on the 2024 agriculture census, which showed that 45.4% of individual agricultural operators were aged 60 and above; only 22.2% were aged between 15 and 45, while 32.3% comprised those aged 46 to 59.
Chief statistician Uzir Mahidin said Sabah recorded the highest number of young farmers, totalling 6,180, aged 15 to 30, followed by Perak (5,149) and Sarawak (3,583). For farmers aged 60 and above, Sarawak topped the list with 63,452, followed by Kedah (61,886) and Sabah (57,007).
In launching the report, deputy prime minister Fadillah Yusof said this posed a serious challenge to Malaysia’s agriculture sector as it affected productivity and the ability to sustain domestic food production.
To woo young Malaysians into entering the sector, Teh said, the government could introduce support initiatives like start-up grants, import duty exemptions for modern equipment and workshops to allow budding farmers to master modern agriculture technology.
He also suggested holding agriculture “hackathons” to bring young engineers, programmers and farmers together to come up with prototype technology solutions for various operational challenges the sector may face.
This would contribute to the development of modern agriculture while fostering interest among young Malaysians in the sector.
“We could make use of idle land through a revenue sharing model, giving young farmers the right to use these land without high rental fees, while landowners receive a share of the returns.
“This approach not only circumvents the lack of agriculture sites, but will also help establish a sustainable network of farmers in both urban and rural areas,” he said.