Amazing!
This woman is the first Malaysian to have received the 2019 Professional Fellows Program Alumni Impact Award (AIA) for her work in the sustainable rice farming in Ba’Kelalan, Sarawak. WWF-Malaysia Community Engagement and Education Senior Officer Alicia Ng was awarded by the Deputy Assistant State Secretary for Professional and Cultural Exchanges during the Fall 2019 Professional Congress in Washington, America.
NST wrote that Alicia finished her four-week fellowship in Arkansas in the year 2017. The lady spent her time on organic and sustainable agriculture and conservation activities, which was much closer to the work she does with WWF-Malaysia. Alicia, who has been interested in rice since she was active in WWF-Malaysia, was filled with confidence and knowledge by the end of the fellowship.
Source: NST
She was quoted as saying,
“When I applied for the programme, I wanted to look into methods used in organic farming as the American organic certification is recognised by many countries. It was definitely the most suitable place for me but unfortunately, organic rice farmers are planting on thousands of hectares and it’s not suitable for small scale farmers in Ba’Kelalan.”
“However, the new knowledge of vegetable farming had truly opened up a whole new opportunity which I could apply professionally and personally.”
“Planting chemical-free vegetables has been much easier for me in my backyard. It helps me at work too because WWF-Malaysia works with more indigenous communities in Sarawak now, and all are looking into sustainable and organic vegetable and pepper cultivation.”
Source: Yahoo News
Thankfully, the sustainable rice farming agenda which was pushed WWF-Malaysia has been proven to be successful. On that note, we hope more rice farmers will adopt the sustainable rice farming agenda as it has been proven to be good. To Alicia: Congrats, girl!
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