In 2024 the Ministry of Agriculture (MOA) continued to work with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to organize the 5^th year of the Young Agricultural Ambassadors New Southbound Policy Exchange Program. A delegation of 12 selected outstanding young farmers and students from Taiwan arrived in Malaysia on August 26 to begin a six-day visit. The itinerary included visits to a Malaysian university, a research institute, two government agencies, and a number of local agricultural industries. The Ambassadors engaged in in-depth exchanges on innovative agricultural operating concepts and practices with young Malaysian farmers, agribusinesses, and agricultural personnel. They brought back possible methods for the development of overseas markets for halal-certified agriproducts. Subsequently, they committed to working on international agricultural technical exchanges, and exploreing ways to bring Taiwan agriproducts in line with international halal certification standards in order to develop markets in New Southbound Policy partner countries.

The MOA states that these Young Agricultural Ambassadors shared many of Taiwan’s practical experiences with precision agriculture and smart agriculture with young Malaysian farmers. Lin Peiying, a young farmer from Beinan Township in Taitung County, introduced the use of accumulated temperature research to reduce the fruit set interval for sugar apples from 160 to 130 days. Meanwhile, two more young farmers, Fan Chihhsi from Guanshan Township in Taitung County and Chien Chihpin from Xinyuan Township in Pingtung County, demonstrated how to use image recognition technology and unmanned aerial vehicles for pesticide-spraying to replace human labor. In addition, Jiang Tasijung, a young farmer from Neipu Township in Pingtung County, shared his experience in applying for the program for college and university students to return to rural communities and being selected as an innovative entrepreneur. There was a great deal of enthusiasm in these interactions between young Malaysians and Taiwanese, sparking many new thoughts on sustainable agricultural operations.

On this trip, the Young Agricultural Ambassadors visited Sekinchan, a town in Malaysia famous for its seafood and rice industry. They went to Kilang Beras Rakyat Sekinchan, the largest rice milling company in Malaysia, to get first-hand exposure to a case study of the application of advanced agricultural machinery from Taiwan in Malaysia. They learned that rice production requires not only rice varieties suited to the production location and production technology, but also that there is a need to strengthen technical and equipment cooperation in order to deal with the impact of global climate change on the stability of grain production and achieve the goal of net-zero carbon emissions.

The MOA says that during their time in Malaysia, the Young Agricultural Ambassadors gained an understanding of the unique features of Malaysia’s dietary culture and consumption patterns. They developed comprehensive and completely new interactions on, and gained knowledge of, various aspects including the use of production technology breakthroughs, agricultural digital information, and new-type agricultural machinery to help boost the efficiency and quality of agricultural production. In particular, with respect to halal certification of agriproducts, they learned about the earliest halal certification system ever established in Malaysia and will work on how Taiwan’s rice, sugar apples, and aquatic products can get in line with the halal product certification standards used in Malaysia and other countries. Going a step further, the aim is, in conformance with international trading norms, to promote the sale of premium agriproducts from Taiwan to markets in New Southbound Policy partner countries. The Ambassadors have also brought back many new ideas on sustainable agricultural operations, and it is hoped they will share their overseas experiences with young people involved in agriculture all over Taiwan and jointly establish partnership relations with counterparts in overseas target markets.

The 2024 visit to Malaysia by this group of Young Agricultural Ambassadors was a return visit following a similar journey to that country back in 2018. Not only did this visit build on the foundation of past interactions, it also opened up possibilities for substantive bilateral agricultural cooperation. The in-depth relationships developed by these two groups of Young Agricultural Ambassadors will be helpful in building a mutually beneficial cooperation model and in linking Taiwan agriproducts to markets in New Southbound Policy partner countries.