KOTA KINABALU: Minister of Agriculture and Fisheries Datuk Seri Panglima Dr Jeffrey Kitingan moots the idea of incorporating personal development and motivational courses into the existing agriculture training programmes for young Sabahans.
He believes that such courses would benefit young Sabahans who are pursuing a career in agriculture to become more independent.
“I’d propose two preparatory courses namely the concept of personal development and motivation so they can learn to become more independent and set bigger plans for themselves,” he said in his address during the 50th Convocation Ceremony of the Institute of Agriculture Sabah Timbang Manggaris and the 37th and 38th for the Agriculture Vocational Traing Centre Lahad Datu, Monday.
It is public knowledge that personal development and motivational courses are highly demanded in today’s competitive economy and are used by captains of industries to drive business growth.
Kitingan, who is also Sabah Deputy Chief Minister, noted that the growth of the agriculture industry in Sabah can be further driven by trained young Sabahans who are more self-reliant in building their own career in the field.
He acknowledged that many graduates have successfully become self-employed and some have even created new jobs that are related to agriculture.
“Some among them have reached a level as entrepreneurs and received the recognition as high achievers,” he said.
He noted with the agriculture sector currently contributing 16 per cent to the state GDP, there are plenty of employment opportunities available for Sabahan youths.
To this end, he congratulated the two training institutes for having consistently producing competent young Sabahans to serve in the industry in various ways.
“I’m very proud with the quality of graduates produced by our Department of Agriculture,” said Kitingan.
He also expressed his appreciation to plantation companies, government departments and agencies for their support in providing industrial training to the students.
It was learned that 85 of the graduates have been offered employment with some of the companies soon after they have completed their training.
246 graduates received their certificates on that day and it was also learned that nearly 100 per cent of them scored 3.0 and above CGPA.-pr/BNN
