SYNOPSIS

Man has been involved in agriculture since the beginning of civilizations. Since its early adoption, agriculture has been continuously changing in many aspects.

In Malaysia, as elsewhere in some developing countries, the agricultural sector underwent rapid changes during the period from early 1960s to late 1980s (the Green Revolution era). These changes had led to major improvements in national food production, land productivity and rural development. Subsequently, with the onset of industrialization, the agricultural sector underwent further changes. During this time, the sector managed to retain its contribution to the national economy in terms of its magnitude, even though it was reduced somewhat in terms of percentage contribution.
Since early times, engineering has been one of the key enablers in agriculture. To the engineers involved, the changes mentioned above constitute challenges to which they need to respond professionally in order to better serve the industry.

The talk will very briefly introduce the history of engineering’s involvement in agriculture. Subsequently, it will highlight the challenges that confront Malaysian agricultural engineers from the end of the Green Revolution era to this day.

Specifically, it will highlight current challenges under the following topics: what is agricultural engineering, professional identity, academic qualification and professional competency areas, changes in the nature and practices of agriculture (technical and non-technical aspects), changes in agricultural and engineering technologies, professional recognition and employment opportunities, and public awareness and knowledge on the profession.
The challenges represent windows of opportunities to interested engineers. However, the specific opportunities will not be itemized in the talk, as by nature opportunities will only be visible to the seekers. None the less, there are some areas for which discussions could be beneficial in terms of identifying appropriate collective responses. These will be highlighted with the hope that they will generate interest among some engineers.


BIODATA OF SPEAKER

Ir. Ayob Sukra, graduated in agricultural engineering from UK with BSc Hons (1972, major: soil & water engineering) and MSc (Farm Machine Design, 1974). After graduation he had attended various short courses, seminars, study tours and conferences related to agricultural engineering, agricultural mechanization, and management.

He is registered with BEM as PEPC and affiliated with local and UK professional institutions (MIEM, MIAgrE(UK). He was registered as CEng with Engineering Council UK until he retired. He had served as AFETD Committee Member for several years and is currently the TD’s Secretary.

Before retiring, Ir. Ayob worked for over 30 years in agricultural engineering research, focusing on farm machine design & development, and mechanized agricultural production system. His research covered food crops as well as industrial crops. His work experience also included several years in R&D and technology management, as well as in management services for research organization.

Personal publications: 12 Books and booklets (with ISBN), 7 refereed Journal articles, 25 conference papers (published / presented), 18 technical mimeographs, and 39 corporate management papers.