United Progressive Kinabalu Organisation (UPKO) president Datuk Ewon Benedick and Parti Bersatu Rakyat Sabah (PBRS) president Datuk Arthur Joseph Kurup have expressed their commitment to jointly develop Sabah through the leadership in their respective ministries.

Ewon, who is also the Minister of Entrepreneur Development and Cooperatives said in that regard he had a discussion with Arthur who is Deputy Minister of Science, Technology and Innovation.

“This is the result of our discussion and the offer of proactive leadership by two young Sabahans who are in the Federal Government to help Sabahans through their respective ministries. We will continue this kind of leadership,” he said.

He said this at the opening ceremony of the Modern Agriculture Project Community MyIS together with the Penampang district community which was launched by Arthur at Wisma IDS here on Friday.

Meanwhile, Arthur who is also the MP for Pensiangan said he also supports efforts to work with Ewon to provide the best service to the people in Sabah.

He is confident of the synergy of Ewon’s leadership to develop infrastructure and entrepreneurial financing, while he will look at aspects of science and innovation among the people.

“Ewon visited the Pensiangan parliamentary constituency with his ministry’s agencies. It was my turn today to bring a MOSTI agency which is the Malaysian Innovation Foundation for the implementation of a modern agriculture project in Penampang involving an allocation of RM206,000.

The two party presidents also agreed to organise a joint programme involving the Supreme Council and the executive council of the two parties in October.

UPKO is a component party of Pakatan Harapan which consists of PKR, DAP and Amanah after joining the coalition in August 2021, while PBRS is one of the component parties of BN along with Umno, MCA and MIC.

At the ceremony, 40 farmers in Penamapng received modern farming assistance from the Science, Technology and Innovation Ministry and innovation from Yayasan Inovasi Malaysia.

Ewon hopes all the recipients would be able to expand their enterprises.

“As the people’s representative in Penampang, I must be part of this effort.

“Because of that, during my visit to the Farmers Association and Farm Tokou, I agreed to use part of my allocation as a parliament member to complement their effort to expand agriculture activities with a more modern approach.

“Today, I also contribute RM32,000 to the Farmers Association. I hope this can help expand the modern farming in Penampang,” he said.

GE Nitrate Solutions or Farm Tokou introduced the “Modern Farming with the Penampang district community project” which involved 100 communities taking part in a four-day course to learn the aquaponic system.

Of the total participants, 20 were selected for the aquaponic system set and were given guidance and entrepreneur courses to help them build their own business.

Among the aims of the project is the creation of communities that are smart in modern farming in Penampang, provide knowledge exposure on aquaponic-based modern farming, reduce dependence on soil resources and high use of water in agriculture and livestock activities.

GE Nitrate Solutions is a social enterprise in Sabah that was set up in 2018 using the name Farm Tokou or our farm.

Source:
courtesy of THE BORNEO POST

by THE BORNEO POST

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