AUGUST 19, 2025
Local youth are participating in the Centre for Strategic and Policy Studies (CSPS) Youth Training Programme following the opening ceremony at the Multi-purpose Hall, Institute of Brunei Technical Education (IBTE) Agro-Technology Campus yesterday. The project brings together government agencies, industry players and educational institutions, with an objective of food security and youth engagement in modern agriculture.
Executive Director of CSPS Dr Diana Cheong, the project leader, delivered an opening address.
According to Dr Kartini of CSPS, the deputy project leader, the free programme continuing until August 29, offers an introduction to sustainable rice farming, agripreneurship and agricultural innovation as part of the project ‘Promoting Youth Engagement and Employment in Bio-Circular-Green (BCG) Agriculture and Food Systems for Food Security: An Action Research on the Rice Value Chain in Brunei Darussalam’, the first Bruneian-led initiative to be funded by the Global Green Growth Institute (GGGI) and the Brunei Darussalam-Indonesia-Malaysia-Philippines East ASEAN Growth Area (BIMP-EAGA) – Republic of Korea (ROK) Cooperation Fund (BKCF).
The programme has visits planned to the Junjongan paddy fields with training set to be delivered in two phases.
The first week will focus on core rice farming practices by Dr Roberto R Acosta and Efren Madayag, rice industry experts from the Philippines.
The second week provides guidance on how to start rice farming in Brunei, including information on support schemes, by the Department of Agriculture and Agrifood.
It also features agripreneurship and innovation sessions by the Brunei Innovation Lab (BIL) and smart farming technologies by Assistant Professor at Universiti Teknologi Brunei (UTB) Ir Ts Dr Ahmad Azlan bin Ab Aziz. It will also feature drone demonstrations and knowledge-sharing sessions.
The programme culminates in an evaluation test on August 29, where the top 50 participants will progress to field-site training over two rice cropping seasons, receiving an allowance upon completion.
