SERDANG, Nov 22 — Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad said technology will help revolutionise the agriculture sector even with limited government funding as Putrajaya has been forced to tighten its belt in the 2019 Budget.
The prime minister said that with “whatever little money” the government has allocated, food-producing techniques can be improved with technology.
“We may not have a lot of money, but with whatever little money we have, we can already improve our techniques of producing food, vegetables, fish, prawn etcetera,” he told a press conference here.
Dr Mahathir however said that the government will invest in more “expensive methods” of farming, similar to that used in more progressive nations, once there are enough funds in the administration’s coffers.
“Even with cheaper techniques, we are already able to improve from old-fashioned ways of using buffaloes to plough the land,” he said, after officiating the 2018 Malaysia Agriculture, Horticulture and Agrotourism Show (MAHA 2018).
In his opening address earlier, Dr Mahathir said that the advent of technology moves fast, adding that digitalisation is the way forward in increasing farming capacity and productivity.
He said that the government has also taken various measures to ensure those from all sectors are not left out in the fast-paced technology era.
