DUN Sarawak: Modern agriculture has potential to develop on the Smoke River

KUCHING, 14 Oct: The Asap River Region under the State Legislative Assembly (DUN) Murum has the potential to develop a rural agriculture economy based on digital technology, smart farming and integrated yield marketing to increase local community income.

Murum State Advisory Council (ADUN) Member, Kennedy Chukpai Ugon said that the approach was designed using the completed Smoke River Agriculture Station and approved and ongoing Digital Village Smoke River (SADV) project.

"For DUN Murum, we are devising an integrated rural economic development approach especially at Swastika River BRS", he said while addressing Budget 2027 at the 19th State Legislative Assembly (DUN) Conference today.

He said the development would be a foundation for efforts to create Smart Agriculture Transformation Centre (SATC), expansion of smart farming practices and development of food terminals as centers of collection, processing and marketing of agricultural products.

Additionally, the approach links the use of digital technologies to increased agricultural productivity, farmer skills development and market access.

"This development model can be formulated easily, SADV provides technology, SATC provides science, smart agriculture increases production, farmers and cooperatives move the economy, agricultural roads open access, while food terminals connect output to markets", he said.

He said that the main objective of this approach is to ensure that development of modern technology and agriculture provide direct economic benefits to rural communities.

"The ultimate goal is to increase people's income and well-being", he explained.

In this regard, Kennedy requested the support of relevant ministries and agencies to detail and implement the development of SATCs, smart farming and food terminals in phases.

He said that the approach could potentially become a model of rural economic development which can be extended to other rural areas in Sarawak.