BUDDING FARMERS

WHO ARE BUDDING FARMERS?

Budding farmers are rookie entrepreneurs in farming industry that possess the growth potential and the capacity of bringing new advancement into domestic agriculture.

PAINS OF BUDDING FARMERS

  • Budding farmers need to come up with seed money to invest in agricultural technology and farming equipment, which may be pricy at times.


  • Budding farmers need to outsource and network in order to find people who will be able to match their produce supply with sufficient demand,


  • Farmers need to be able to cope with surging demand of produce.


  • Factors regarding weather such as floods, drought and climate change may affect production and overall farmers' livelihoods.

BUDDING FARMERS IN MALAYSIA

Agriculture remains to be one of the more important sectors in the country, and as of 2020, the agriculture sector is the third-highest GDP contributor (8.21%) to the country, standing next to the mining and quarrying sector.

According to Tracxn, up until 11 September 2021, there are 60 AgriTech startups in Malaysia, and that does not include micro-entrepreneurs. However, many local budding farmers could not secure adequate funding to grow their business, as many stakeholders are unaware of the potential that this sector holds.

Cited from: Statistica: Malaysia: Share of economic sectors in the gross domestic product (GDP) from 2010 to 2020 https://www.statista.com/statistics/318732/share-of-economic-sectors-in-the-gdp-in-malaysia/

WHY WE DECIDE TO EMPOWER BUDDING FARMERS?

  • To help local budding farmers to grow their business and increase export.

It is a great burden for new farmers to manage the number of production for exportation. A great knowledge and skills are required to help the budding farmers to be consistent in managing the exporting trades. In addition, understandings on agreements and standards for export also must be learned in order to be successfully involve in exporting business.


  • To increase contribution of national GDP from agriculture sectors.
    Despite being among the highest contributor in national GDP, the government's revenue has steadily drops while expenditure rapidly increases to support the public against detrimental effects of COVID-19 pandemic. And since majority of government income comes from taxation, there is a pressing need to re-boost national economic health.

  • The need for better food security.
    Malaysia ranks 39th on 2020 Global Food Security (GFS) Index, and the rank has significantly dropped from 28th on 2019. Therefore it is necessary to upscale the food production from budding farmers, so that they too can contribute to the supply chain, and reduce our dependency towards imported products.

  • To generate more high-valued job opportunities in the sector of agriculture.
    Despite high contribution in national GDP, the local agriculture sectors could not meet domestic need of agriculture products. In 2019 for example, Malaysia

LOOKING FORWARD

  • Financial institutions to provide funding for agriculture startups to invest on advanced technology that will increase productivity and quality.

  • 12% increase in GDP contribution by 2030.