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Encik Abu Bakr Mohd Hanim
Deputy Director
Young Agropreneur Programme
Technology Transfer & Entrepreneur Development Centre
MARDI Headquarters

The Young Agropreneur Unit was specifically created by the Ministry of Agriculture & Food Industry (MAFI) in 2013, for all Malaysians aged between 18 to 40 years old. The approach of this unit is to facilitate and encourage higher involvement of youth in Agriculture-based entrepreneurship including all activities within the agriculture industry value chain such as crops and food processing (agro-based industry) including marketing and technical advice.

MARDI Young Agropreneur Programme was established in 2014 to plan, organize and administer activities that foster the utilization of technology and innovation among the agropreneurs specifically on crops and food processing (Agro-based Industry). The main objective of this programme is to change the perception and encourage the involvement of youth (aged between 18-40 years old) in agriculture and agro-based industries that would create entrepreneurs to be actively involved in agro-based business. This is done through various structured programs like developing participants through training guidance and consultation as well as packaged technical, financial, and marketing support. The vision of this programme is to develop youth agropreneurs who are progressive, competitive, creative, innovative and ultimately will generate high income from their ventures.

During the five years of the RMK-11 (2016-2020), a total of 5,688 participants were successfully registered under MARDI Young Agropreneur Programme via online and manual registration. However, by 2019, manual registration was no longer accepted, and all interested parties must register their application via online at MARDI’s Young Agropreneur website.

MARDI’s Young Agropreneur Programme focuses on the three main clusters for development of young entrepreneur namely agro-based industry (IAT), crops and livestock. However, other clusters such as marketing and services are still being accepted and categorized as other clusters. Based on the records, IAT cluster were the most registered cluster in this programme with a total of 2,757 participants (2016; 584, 2017; 982, 2018; 410, 2019; 463 and until end of June 2020 with 318 applicants). The crops cluster had a total of 1,796 registrations (2016; 287, 2017; 659, 2018; 423, 2019; 280 and until June 2020 with 147) while livestock cluster received 988 registration (2016; 344, 2017; 394, 2018; 178, 2019; 71, and until end of June 2020 with 1 applicant. Finally, for the other clusters only 147 applicants were recorded (2016; 0, 2017; 53, 2018; 80, 2019; 13, 2020;1).

One-off technical advisory services are one of the mediums for MARDI technology transfer to the young entrepreneurs and future entrepreneurs. Some of the communication methods used in these services include face to face appointments with guidance officers, telephone calls, communication application such as WhatsApp and email. For walk-in or appointment meeting, one can visit the Technology Transfer and Entrepreneur Development Centre at MARDI Headquarters or the nearest State MARDI Office. One of the benefits from one-off advisory services is the free consultation session given by the guidance officer. The consultation will help to resolve any issues related to the product or project faced by the entrepreneur. The Guidance Officer will also assist in recommending appropriate training or courses to the entrepreneurs based on their products. As stated during the RMK-11 (2016 to 2020), 6,534 advisory sessions were provided by MARDI officials to young agropreneurs and future entrepreneurs throughout Malaysia.

Consultation with young entrepreneur

Consultation Form

The SOP of processing applicant registration has been developed. Applications received through online registration will be processed within 2 weeks. Eligibility filtering process will be done to ensure that only eligible applicants are accepted as participants. The main criteria assessed were Malaysian citizenship and age qualification of between 18 to 40 years old. If the application does not meet the specified criteria, the application will be rejected. Youths who have successfully registered as young agropreneurs will be called as ‘Peserta AM’ and will be informed through email with acceptance letter. Registered participants are considered as successful and entitle as ‘Usahawan AM’ when they meet the requirements set by this programme such as they have attended technical courses by MARDI, received AM grants and managed to increase their income from their businesses or crops.

Thereafter, participants will be given access to MARDI entrepreneurship training namely AGORA and various other technical training. Moreover, MARDI will also be providing technical advice services from the experts and execute continuous monitoring for MARDI Young Agropreneur businesses. MARDI’s Young Agropreneurs will also be given an opportunity to apply for Young Agropreneur Grant from MAFI with maximum value of RM20,000. Guidance officer will guide participants for this purpose. Besides, eligible participant will be offered business loan with low interest from Agrobank and TEKUN.

A group of AGORA participants presenting their Business Model Canvas (BMC) layout

Technical visit to entrepreneur’s premise

Acceptance of the equipment by grant recipient

In conclusion, registered youth agropreneur with MARDI will receive various benefits including courses or training, grants, and guidance such as technical advice from experts in government agencies. In that regard, young agropreneurs’ income can be enhanced through improvement of productivity, quality, technology and innovation with a competitive market. This sustainable programme will feature many more agro-based millionaire and make the local agricultural industry as a future field of business that generates momentum in line with the country’s Agrofood Policies. The Young Agropreneur Graduate is MARDI’s Young Agropreneur who has already successfully achieved Young Agropreneur status and met the MARDI’s Guided Entrepreneur criteria and has succeeded in becoming one of them. Guided Entrepreneur is the next level programme of entrepreneur development in MARDI. The selection of the graduates is based on the increment of income level, managed to have a valid premises or farm, and showing good business performance for at least one year by earning over RM10,000 per month.

MARDI Headquarters

Malaysian Agricultural Research and Development Institute (MARDI)
MARDI Headquarters
Persiaran MARDI-UPM
43400 Serdang
Selangor
Tel: +603-8953 6000
Fax: +603-8953 6011
Email: enquiry@mardi.gov.my
Website: www.mardi.gov.my

Contact Person on the Young Agropreneur Programme

Encik Abu Bakr Mohd Hanim
Deputy Director
Young Agropreneur Programme
Technology Transfer & Entrepreneur Development Centre
Tel: +603-8953 6801
Fax: +603-8953 6770
Email: abubakr@mardi.gov.my
Website: https://agropreneurmuda.wixsite.com/ammardi