Siti Fatimahwati Pehin Dato Musa

Purpose: Agriculture is increasingly vulnerable to climate variability, raising critical questions about its long-term sustainability. Compounding this challenge, the agricultural sector significantly contributes to environmental degradation. As the urgency to mitigate these impacts intensifies, it becomes clear that integrated approaches to sustainable agriculture, particularly climate-smart agriculture (CSA), are essential. This study aims to explore how CSA technologies and practices can revitalise the agricultural sector to mitigate climate change while enhancing productivity resilience effectively. Design/methodology/approach: The Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses methodology was used to systematically screen, review and synthesise the literature on CSA technologies and practices that promote sustainable and environmentally friendly approaches. Findings: This study categorises various technologies and practices identified in the literature into five key areas: climate-smart farming, climate-smart irrigation, climate-smart conservation, climate-smart nutrition management and integrated CSA. Transforming agriculture to address climate change requires interconnected approaches that promote sustainability across economic, social and environmental dimensions. Originality/value: Although CSA encompasses a variety of approaches within the agricultural sector, existing studies often focus on isolated aspects. This fragmented perspective underscores the need for a more integrated examination of advanced technologies and effective practices within CSA. This study aims to bridge these gaps to maximise the benefits of CSA for sustainable agriculture and achieve the Sustainable Development Goals.

This systematic literature review reveals that food security traditionally emphasises the availability and accessibility of nutritious food to ensure consistent utilisation. The concept of Halalan Tayyiban mandates that food should be ethically sourced and produced following Shariah law and should be accessible to all. Furthermore, it highlights the importance of sharing food with those in need and considers its impact on religious and moral development. To uphold Halalan Tayyiban standards from farm to fork, active involvement from all stakeholders is essential, particularly producers, who must ensure that consumers receive lawful and high-quality food by adhering to government regulations on Halal certification. Future research should expand the study of Halalan Tayyiban principles to encompass a wider array of agricultural issues beyond food security, to further enhance understanding of this Islamic concept.

The production of halal pharmaceuticals in Muslim countries is a growing industry with high market demand. Muslim consumer spending on pharmaceuticals was USD108 billion in 2022 and is forecast to reach USD142 billion in 2027. Due to the growing demand for halal pharmaceuticals, business leaders have begun to respond to the call for halal integrity in medicines and related products in which all ingredients should be permissible to use and consume and be alcohol-free. This chapter examines the use of a traceability system to ensure the halal integrity of pharmaceuticals. A traceability system enables the identification of product ingredients’ halal status along the production chain and can also act as a communication tool to ensure that information related to halal products is available along the supply chain and eventually to consumers. The chapter gives an overview of the development of the use of traceability systems in the pharmaceutical supply chain, including the use of state-of-the-art technology, through case studies of Malaysia, Japan and Brunei Darussalam.

Halal food is the major component of the growing halal market. Brunei Darussalam is among the numerous countries seeking to exploit the halal industry to diversify the economy and create employment, and has made significant attempts to develop the halal food sector. This chapter explores the halal food ecosystem in Brunei by describing its current state, the challenges it faces and recommendations for halal industry stakeholders. This chapter addresses four major challenges: 1) dependency on imports of food and raw meat products; 2) fraudulent products and practices; 3) appeasing demands from a new generation of halal consumers; and 4) an underdeveloped halal logistics industry. The arguments presented here are relevant for the local halal industry’s development as well as future research on related topics.

The purpose of this chapter is to explore the potential of community-based agritourism in Brunei Darussalam. Agritourism is developing across Southeast Asia as an important form of tourism. However, it is not integrated into Brunei’s national tourism framework as in other Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) member states where there are designated areas for agritourism to be developed and assistance for the local farming community. This study applies a strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats (SWOT) analysis to leverage the strengths and opportunities, rectify the weaknesses and overcome the threats of community-based agritourism in Brunei. A total of 23 respondents—volunteers, government officials and farm owners from three small farms in remote villages—were interviewed. This study reveals that community-based agritourism has led to positive impacts in four main facets—economic, environmental, sociocultural and educational—all of which greatly benefit farm owners, villagers, farmers and local youth. Although agritourism farms struggle from internal and external disadvantages such as funding deficiencies and small-scale production, those problems can be eased with more support from public and relevant organisations to secure the operations of farms. Grassroots initiatives can achieve state-wide significance if incorporated into the nation-building strategy as supporting a growing sector.

This study aims to evaluate the concept of entrepreneurial identity in the AgroBiz youth agripreneur program and the potential implications of agripreneurship in shaping the future of farming in Brunei. An exploratory study was applied to gain insight into agriculture students and course facilitators’ perceptions of agripreneurship training using focus group discussion to acquire comprehensive data. Thematic analysis was used to identify emerging agripreneurship and entrepreneurial identity themes. Research findings indicated that incorporating business-innovative practices into vocational agriculture training can instil young farmers with an entrepreneurial identity. The three critical issues addressed in the AgroBiz project: mindset, agribusiness, and agrotechnology, are considered essential components of manifesting the entrepreneurial identity. The research findings may not be comprehensive enough to evaluate the long-term contributions of AgroBiz at the industry level due to the small sample. Nevertheless, AgroBiz is a helpful instrument in nurturing change in the youth and the farming community.

The paper reads well. It can be improved by outlining the objectives of the paper and a concise methodology. The second section on the challenges of food security in Africa has too much inormation. It would be better to give subheadings for each diff...

Purpose: This study aims to evaluate the effectiveness of the government-incentivised i-Ready programme in alleviating youth unemployment in terms of the transition from education to the labour force market.Design/methodology/approach: Focus group discussions are conducted to reveal the perceptions and experiences of the apprentices in the i-Ready programme. The SWOT (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats) analysis framework is used to evaluate the effectiveness of the i-Ready apprenticeship model in building a future-ready human capital.Findings: The study found that the JobCentre agency utilises online recruitment technology and proactively promotes work-based training in the public and private sectors. However, the apprenticeship still needs to improve programme coordination and provide an inclusive regulatory framework. The study also discovered that internships could enhance in-demand skills training and establish apprentices as a crisis-recovery workforce.Research limitations/implications: The findings are based on a small-scale focus group study and represent the current state of the i-Ready programme. Future research integrating data from multiple stakeholders is recommended to provide a more thorough picture.Practical implications: In terms of efficacy, the findings indicate that i-Ready has made significant contributions to local employment and, with certain modifications, is on the correct route to producing future-ready youth.Originality/value: To date, there has been no research on the effectiveness of the national i-Ready programme system as a strategy that may help alleviate Brunei's youth unemployment crisis.