KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 18 — The government will announce a new policy on smart farming in the near future, said Economic Affairs Minister Datuk Seri Mohamed Azmin Ali.

Mohamed Azmin said the adoption new technology including robotics would further boost the Malaysian agriculture sector.

"The ministry is now in talks with several financial institutions regarding funding with minimal interest for smallholders involved in smart farming.

"But we need the people to be trained for this sector,” he said after taking part in the World Stats Congress 2019 run for the 5 km category at Dataran Merdeka today.

Earlier, Mohamed Azmin who is also Economic Affairs Minister flagged of more than 7,000 participants of the run held in conjunction with the 62nd International Institute of Statistics World Statistics Congress, (ISI WSC 2019) which is held for the first time in Malaysia at the Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre, starting today to Aug 23. — Bernama