As agriculture is a concern of the whole world, Aggie Ps Talk 5.0 goes international with Mr. Ramana K. Naidu, CEO and founder of Famox Malaysia, as the guest speaker for Episode 3 aired last 8 June. He talked about “Germinating the Grain Corn Industry in Malaysia toward Food Security.”

Mr. Naidu is a young entrepreneur who found his passion for agriculture after spending years in the aviation industry. Despite his young age and the recent shift in the field of agriculture, he has been recognized and awarded for his achievements and contributions in the field.

Starting his talk with how he got into agriculture from being an “aviation boy,” Mr. Naidu also explained how Famox began with farming vegetables crops in 2011, then expanding into napier and cassava in 2012, later on becoming a commercial grain corn producer in 2016, and finally, leading to an integrated farm with cattle and poultry in 2018. Currently, Famox is considered as the pioneer and largest plantation of grain corn in Malaysia.

With the aim to contribute to the achievement of food security, Mr. Naidu works towards supplying a percentage of Malaysia’s demand for grain corn, an important element to the production of quality feeds. He hopes that by providing a locally-sourced option for grain corn, feed costs would be relatively lower, thereby lowering the prices of livestock and poultry as well. 

Despite his achievements, Mr. Naidu does not take full credit for his business’ success. He believes that he has been blessed by having the support of his parents and for having a good mentor. Because of this, he pays it forward by establishing the Famox Buy Back Concept and the Famox Mentor-Mentee program. He encourages the involvement of the youth in the development of the industry and promotes the use of technology to make it sexier for the young people. 

To end his talk, Mr. Naidu shares that to achieve success in agriculture, one has to plan, strategize, and have a good team. 

Present in the event were CAFS Associate Deans, Dr. Adeliza A. Dorado and Dr. Barbara L. Caoili who gave the opening and closing remarks, respectively. Each gave a inspiration messages and encouraged the youth participants to engage in agriCOOLture. 

Indeed, this episode of the Aggie Ps Talk has been truly inspiring as captured by the menti.com exercise given. The time capsule activity was also continued through the #FutureofAgriCOOLture. 

This is the fifth season of the CAFS webinar series, Rebooting Agriculture in the New Normal: Webfresher Courses. 

Watch the episode through CAFS YouTube Channel: https://youtu.be/9lMbt6RCKok

By Alyssa Kaye S. Mojar