Dutch trade mission Geodata and Earth Observation Agri-food and Water strengthens ties with Indonesia and Malaysia
A week -long trade mission on Geodata and Earth Observation in Agri-food and Water was successfully held in Jakarta and Kuala Lumpur from 24th- 27th February 2025. Bringing together experts, policymakers, and industry players from both countries to explore how Dutch expertise in geospatial technology can support Indonesia and Malaysia’s growing demand for data-driven solutions in food security. The trade mission successfully kicked-off their first part of the program in Jakarta on the 24th of February. Please go to the link below this article for the extensive coverage of the first part of their program in Jakarta.
After the successful completion of the program in Indonesia, seven (7) Dutch companies in the trade mission continued on their program to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia: Digireg International, Kadaster International, Netherlands Space Office, Satelligence, Space4Good, Stichting OpenGeoHub and the University of Twente – Faculty ITC. Further details on their expertise can be found also in the link to below this article.
Insightful knowledge exchanges, building connections, and exploring potential cooperations
On the third day, 26th February 2025, “The Netherlands – Malaysia Forum: “Building a collaborative ecosystem using geospatial data and satellite imagery to enhance food security and climate-resilient value chains” was held in Kuala Lumpur. This Forum provided a platform for knowledge sharing and to align Malaysia’s needs with the Netherlands’ expertise, fostering opportunities for collaboration in areas such as monitoring land use changes, agricultural crop monitoring and yield predictions, track and traceability, information services for forest monitoring and EUDR and improving agricultural planning and decision making to enhance food security. In total, more than 80 Malaysian participants attended this forum ranging from government officials, private sectors, civil service organizations and knowledge institutes.
The Forum commenced with the auspicious welcoming remarks delivered by Dutch Ambassador to Malaysia H.E. Jacques Werner, followed by an opening speech by Joost van Uum, Agriculture Counselor of the Netherlands Embassy. A keynote speech from the Malaysian Space Agency (MYSA) was delivered by Mr. Kamaruzzaman Wahid. Afterwards, we had a very insightful plenary presentations elaborating on the geodata ecosystem and its utilization in Malaysia, Thailand and The Netherlands. The plenary presentations were from The Netherlands Space Agency (NSO), The National Geospatial Center of Malaysia (PGN), The Department of Agriculture of Malaysia (DOA), The Geo-Informatics and Space Technology Development Agency of Thailand (GISTDA), The Enggang Group and the European Forest Institute (EFI). The Q & A session was held at the end of the morning plenary presentations.
In the afternoon, after a round of networking-walking lunch, the Forum session resumed with presentations from the 7 participating Dutch organizations, then swiftly followed by two sessions of dynamic and engaging roundtable discussions, with the roundtables hosted by each of the 7 Dutch Geodata companies.
Site visits for an in-depth exploration of cooperation opportunities and learning the realities on the ground.
On the final day of the week-long trade mission, 27th February 2025, the Dutch trade mission visited SD Guthrie’s Centre of Sustainability in Carey Island. SD Guthrie is one of the world’s largest producer of sustainable palm oil. The Dutch mission was cordially welcomed by Dr. David Ross Appleton, the Chief R&D Officer and his team. During his presentation, he shared insights on key challenges on the ground as well as their company’s vision on future and current technological innovations applied on their plantation. The mission also had the opportunity to view their online map of their entire plantation areas.
The mission concluded their visit at Carey Island with a drive-through at the Division B of the East Estate , viewing the foreign worker’s housing, creche, local worker’s housing, sundry shop and clinic.
After the visit to Carey Island, the trade mission continued on their journey to visit a palm oil smallholder plantation at Kanchong Tengah, Banting. Upon arrival, the mission was received with warm local hospitality hosted by the plantation owner Mr. Haji Md. Marham bin Mardi and his family.
In addition, the mission learned from Dr Law of Solidaridad Network Malaysia and Mrs. Nordiana Abd. Aziz of the Malaysian Palm Oil Board (MPOB) through their briefings and presentations on the challenges faced by palm oil smallholders on sustainability and mapping of the smallholder areas.
The trade mission program ends with a site visit to the Malaysian Space Agency (MYSA). The mission was very graciously received by MYSA’s Director General YBhg. Dato’ Gs. Haji Azlikamil bin Napiah and his team. The Director General presented the remote sensing applications developed by Malaysia, provided insights into the Malaysia’s future space technology development and outlined the opportunities for public & private partnerships.
Looking back to the week-long journey, the connections established during these few days hold promise for deeper collaborations. This mission marks an important first step towards strengthening partnerships towards building an ecosystem in geodata and earth observation, ensuring a more resilient food systems.
After the conclusion of the visit to MYSA, the Dutch mission said their farewells and headed to the Kuala Lumpur International Airport to catch their respective flights. The organization team of this Dutch trade mission would like to express our heartfelt and sincere thanks to all the parties and participants involved in this trade mission, your valuable contribution have made this a resounding success!