THE Department of Agriculture and Agrifood (DAA) is considering awarding Wasan Vocational School students with piece of land after their graduation in what could be seen as a motivating incentive for more students to take up farming as a vocation.
The department has several areas at the Wasan padi fields available to be used for the purpose, DAA Director Hjh Normah Suria Hayati PJDSM DSU (Dr) Hj Mohd Jamil Al-Sufri said on the sidelines of a farewell ceremony held at the Brunei International Airport for 29 representatives from Brunei students and lecturers at the Wasan Vocational School as well officers and staff from DAA who left for Manila to attend a 20-day course in rice production.
“We do not want them to work in other areas, after graduating from the agriculture school, as it will not be meaningful to them, not making full use of their expertise,” she said.
She added: “They will still be under DAA’s supervision, but they will work on it on their own and this is all because we expect them to be the next generation of rice farmers,” she said, adding that the kind of award could even be through contract farming.
The director said that if the future graduates from the school were to be given the opportunity to manage a padi field on their own, it could give them the motivation to be rice growers.
However, she could not provide other details of the plan as it was still at an early stage. The mechanism of the plan has yet to be studied.
Acting Principal of the Wasan Vocational School Aket Melayong, who first shared the information about the plan withThe Brunei Times, said the size of the land awarded to the future graduates could measure from one to two acres.
The purpose of the plan was to enable the future graduates to explore and manage rice plantation in real life.
According to results from last year’s harvest at the Wasan padi fields, an acre yielded 3.8-tonne of rice, Aket said.
“If they are experienced enough, they can double the production,” he said, adding that the plan was only communicated to the school by DAA verbally.
He added, “It is not only about supplying, if they were to finance themselves through it, it’s good enough.”
The acting principal also shared that the 20 students from the school who left for the course yesterday were the first batch to be receiving the diploma in the field.
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