Promoting agro-entrepreneurship

Happy farmer: Naviin holding up his harvest of long beans from his 2ha farm in Johor. — THOMAS YONG/The Star

KOTA TINGGI: Naviin Thiagarajan had always dreamed of becoming an entrepreneur.

Over the years, he worked in different jobs ranging from being an employee at a freight forwarding company to a local politician’s assistant.

Now, he has ventured into growing vegetables.

Naviin, 27, not only helps run his father’s 2ha vegetable farm here, but has also started selling the produce and conducting online classes for people wanting to dabble in agriculture.

“I studied maritime transportation management.

“I never imagined that when I started helping my father on a part-time basis seven years ago, it would become my full-time job,” Naviin said, adding that he has no regrets.

Agriculture, said Naviin, is not easy but with hard work, it can yield good rewards.

“I realised that many people, especially during the Covid-19 restrictions, wanted to go into farming instead of just sitting at home.

“So, I decided to come up with a basic farming module to share my knowledge so that people will get it right from the start,” he said, adding that he had trained over 180 people so far.

Initially, Naviin’s courses were free, but he later started charging a small fee and a certificate of attendance would be given at the end of the course.

“As it is done via Zoom, people from around the country can join in to learn farming techniques,” he said.

He has more than 100 slides on farming which are based on his own experience, including how to identify the right plot of land, carrying out a soil test, pest control, fertilisers and how to market the produce.

Now that Covid-19 restrictions have been lifted, Naviin is planning to have a “classroom setting” at his farm to give people a hands-on experience.

Asked what drove him to sell vegetables online, he said that previously his father only sold the produce to middlemen, who made a huge profit.

“When I sold my vegetables online, I noticed that there was good demand.

“Nowadays, we get higher prices than what the middlemen paid us. And the customers are happy to get fresh vegetables,” he said.

Naviin also said that he aims to deliver the vegetables to customers the same day they are harvested.

Naviin believes more people should get involved in farming as each year the government spends billions of ringgit on imported food.

“We also have a lot of idle land which can be used for farming,” he said, adding that their biggest problem is labour.

Naviin hopes the government will allow the recruitment of foreign workers, as it will be difficult to increase production without additional manpower.

Those interested to join the online classes or get fresh vegetables can reach Naviin via his website www.sayurkita.asia.