RANAU: Youths and entrepreneurs will benefit from the 10 per cent increase in the agricultural allocation announced in the 2023 Budget.
Azizul Julirin, an agropreneur based in Kundasang, said the RM5.32 billion allocation announced by Finance Minister Tengku Datuk Seri Zafrul Tengku Abdul Aziz will encourage more participation in agriculture and the use of new technology.
"The sustainable development of agrofood initiatives, which involves modern farming projects based on controlled environment agriculture, such as plant factories, enables short-term food production to be done productively in urban areas using vacant spaces.
"This will help increase the self-sufficiency level, apart from encouraging technology use in the agricultural sector.
"The National Hardcore Poor Poverty Eradication programme has a focus on agriculture as a source of income to bring people out of poverty," he said, adding that eight of the 10 poorest districts nationwide are in Sabah.
Azizul, 34, hoped that the funding application process, whether it is a loan or a grant, could be smoothened, especially for rural farmers and agro-based startups.
As for youths and entrepreneurs, he said the 2023 Budget addressed the challenges faced by youths in the employment sector.
"The continuation of MySTEP in offering 50,000 contract career opportunities in the government and government-linked companies is useful in providing youths with jobs and experience to meet the demands of the job market in the future.
"The continuation of SemarakNiaga 2023 with a budget of RM45 billion compared to the previous RM40 billion will further boost youth involvement in entrepreneurship.
"The Graduate Entrepreneur Program (PUSh) benefiting 1,000 graduates entering entrepreneurship is the best platform for graduates to change their mentality and narrative as job seekers to job creators themselves."
Azizul said the huge allocation to upgrade poor school infrastructure, especially to replace old wooden buildings, would create a more conducive environment for children in Sabah and Sarawak.
"The announcement of the budget for the construction of SMK Nabalu (here) has been a long-time wish of thousands of children around the foothills of Mount Kinabalu who had to travel tens of kilometers every day to get a secondary education.
"Better access to education through the construction of comfortable and adequate learning facilities is the key to change and progress for every citizen in the future."
In a separate statement, Sabah Community Development and People's Wellbeing Minister Datuk Shahelmey Yahya said the 2023 budget was inclusive as it covered everyone.
"We hope the inclusive budget will be approved and fully implemented in 2023.
"Sabah will receive more than RM6 billion in development funds. What we want is for the allocated amount to be fully used next year.
"This year, the development allocation could not be (fully) used as there were obstacles in implementation. So we ask for efficient execution and optimisation of the allocation."