Kota Kinabalu: Unemployed graduates have been urged to explore employment opportunities in the agricultural field so as to reduce the unemployment rate among graduates in the State.State Assistant Minister of Agriculture and Food Industries, Japli Akim, said this was important given the rising number of unemployed graduates.
Japli, who is also State Umno Youth chief, advised graduates to change their perception towards job prospects in the agricultural sector.
"Unemployment among graduates will not be an issue if they are not choosy upon completing their studies.
"The fact is, there are many vacancies in agriculture, production, manufacturing, construction and services, which shows the real problem is not there are no job opportunities, but the lack of interest among graduates towards the sector," he told reporters here, Wednesday.
Deputy Director-General of the Economic Planning Unit (EPU), Datuk Abdul Rahman Husin, said recently that the unemployment problem among graduates was cause for concern, with some 57,000 recorded during the first quarter of this year.
He said unemployed graduates could turn agriculture into a professional career.
"This way, we can change people's perception towards agriculture as a second class career and unimportant," Japli added.
He said agriculture was far different now than 20 years ago, "as the agricultural community are now talking about value added products, assurance of health and safety in food and meeting the demands of consumer taste for the global market."
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