FACTORS THAT DEVELOPS AGRO-BASED INDUSTRIES IN

MALAYSIA

1. Education

Development in education is very much related to the agro-based industries in our

country. Education is vital as it gives people more understanding on their surroundings. It
is also important for people as it helps them to be more logical and could differentiate the
good and bad around them. With the developing of importance of education among
Malaysians, our ministry of agriculture and agro-based industries able to introduce people-
centred approaches both within training organizations and in outreach programmes.
Higher level educations also helped in creating a ‘critical mass’ of change-oriented staff
that can contribute to sustainable innovation. Education is very crucial for an agro-based
industry as it is useful to provide the training managers with improved skills in
implementation, monitoring and evaluation, and also in communication with other
bureaucracies, employees, trainees and with rural client groups. With educations, more
educated and talents staffs are being produced and they play their roles by contributing in
the growth of agro-based industries in Malaysia.

2. Information and communication technology (ICT).

Technology plays an important role in rapid growing country. It works as a platform

for business trades as it helps it connecting industry networks worldwide. By having this
networks, trades among countries increases. Import and export of products will grow
rapidly as one can explore products all over the world within minutes. Besides, with
improving technologies, more machineries and methods will be identified and this helps in
performing a better agro-based industry. Many raw materials can be harvested which is
better in quality and can be used to produce various eco-friendly and human-friendly
products. New inventions can be produced and traded. This will develop agro-based
industries in our country to a better position. It will gain more popularity among people as
they will know the importance and benefits of supporting agro-based industries compared
to those industries that emphasis more on chemicals.

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3. Changes in views to life style

In early days, people earn money to just sustain a living. As days goes by, people earn
more money in order to enjoy the luxuries around them. They tend to encourage more
chemical-based industries as they feel it makes them look indifferent than the rest. This
was because chemical was more expensive and its existence made life easier. However,
extensive use of chemicals in daily life brought in many cons in human life such as health
issues and environmental pollutions. People changed their perspectives towards chemical-
based industries and they understand the importance of agriculture and agro-based
industries. For an example, we can take a look on cosmetic industries. Previously, people
preferred chemical-based cosmetics as it gives the results they wanted in a shorter period.
However, the frequent usage of this had lead many health issues such as skin cancer and
drastic weight-loss. Therefore, people gain more confident in agro-based cosmetics as it is
more organic and has more medical values. The changes in views to life style had led to
the positive growth of agro-based industries in Malaysia.

4. Agro-based industry sector is more profitable than agricultural sector

In early days, most of the crops produced in this country were sold unprocessed to
traditional and world markets.  In almost all cases, these crops are processed in the
countries which imported them and then re-imported into the countries they initially
harvested with higher price. This brings a very heavy loss to the country that produce raw
materials and a high yield for the country that re-export it in a processed way. For a very
simple example, the cost of an apple is around 70 cents. However, after it is processed into
a fresh juice, it will cost around 2 ringgit and 50 cents. This is just a matter of a piece of
apple, what will be cost for 100 apples and the company that processes and packages fruit
juices. This situation clearly shows how the actual agro-based industries works. Therefore,
agro-based industries in our country will get to gain more profit to the country compared
to importing only raw materials.

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5. Establishment of more industry

There is no limits for knowledge and inventions in this world and this lead to
establishment of more agro-based industries. With the well-educated man power, growing
technologies and endless demand from consumer, more agro-based industries is being
developed as days goes by. Besides, our country also in need with more industries so that
we can stop depending other countries’ products while producing more trustable and high
quality products. Furthermore events such as MAHA 2016, gives a vivid knowledge on
our agro-based industries to our fellow citizens. With such exposure, we can expect more
industries will be established soon as we got to know how to handle this industries
financially stable. We also got to know about MyGAP, a skim to help out with agro-based
industries.