KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 7 — Communication and Multimedia Minister Tan Sri Annuar Musa today said that technology for the agricultural industry must not only be accessible but also affordable for the farmers.

He said that Malaysia Agriculture, Horticulture & Agrotourism (Maha) 2022 is the perfect platform to create awareness about the availability of technological innovation that can transform the local agriculture scene.

"It is important to make the technology cheaper because it’s not only about the availability but it’s also important to make it affordable even for the ordinary farmers to invest in the technology,” he told reporters after visiting vendors at the event being held at the Malaysia Agro Exposition Park Serdang (MAEPS), Serdang.

"It is also important to ensure that the farmers can invest and get back the money that they have invested.”

The minister also launched Agrex, or the Agro-Culture Acceleration Programme which would enable school students to visit farms and agriculture sites to learn and appreciate them.

The biennial exhibition which was last held in 2018 will last for 11 days at MAEPS here starting from August 4 until August 14.

Maha 2022 also saw an investment of more than RM4 billion by domestic industry players as well as technology from abroad which will be finalised through nine Memorandums of Understanding (MoU).

The largest and most prestigious agricultural exhibition also featured 1,500 exhibitors with 100,000 visitors expected each day.