The Malaysia Digital Economy Corporation (MDEC) has announced a landmark first-time collaboration with the Chungju City Government of the Republic of Korea, aimed at accelerating digital transformation in the agriculture sector and strengthening national food security.
The strategic partnership focuses on advancing the development of Digital Farmers, driving the adoption of digital agriculture technologies (AgTech), and expanding the digital economy in line with MDEC’s Malaysia Digital (MD) AgTech initiative. It also supports Malaysia’s aspiration to become an AI Nation by 2030, where artificial intelligence is deployed across industries to enhance competitiveness and improve quality of life.
Digital agriculture has been identified as a critical pillar in this vision, enabling precision monitoring, intelligent farm management and more resilient food systems, while promoting inclusive, sustainable and scalable productivity growth through digital adoption.
MDEC continues to catalyse Digital AgTech adoption under the MD AgTech initiative as part of its broader mandate to operationalise AI across priority economic sectors, including agriculture. The agency has been appointed the National Strategic Digital Technology Validator by the Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security (KPKM), with the initiative officially endorsed under the National Food Security Blueprint. MDEC’s efforts have also received global recognition from the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (UN FAO).
MDEC Chief Executive Officer Anuar Fariz Fadzil said the agency remains focused on translating national AI ambitions into tangible sector-wide outcomes.
“This first-ever collaboration with the Chungju City Government, Republic of Korea is a strong example of how cross-border partnerships can accelerate AI adoption in agriculture, uplifting farmers’ livelihoods, strengthening food security, and future-proofing Malaysia’s agrofood ecosystem through digital adoption,” he said.
The collaboration builds on the Malaysia–Republic of Korea Government-to-Government (G2G) Digital AgTech initiative launched in 2022, involving Malaysia’s Ministry of Digital, Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security and MDEC, alongside South Korea’s Ministry of Science and ICT and the National Information Society Agency. Under the initiative, three AI-powered Digital AgTech systems were successfully deployed in Malaysia: the AI Smart Fertigation System, AI Smart Irrigation System and AI Pest Detection System.
Following continued engagement, the Chungju City Government, together with ecosystem partners SimplyCare Bio of South Korea and Serunai Commerce Sdn Bhd of Malaysia — a Malaysia Digital status company — has focused collaboration across several strategic areas. These include AgTech knowledge and technology transfer, halal digitalisation, cross-border digital ecosystem engagement and the adoption of innovative best practices.
These engagements have culminated in Chungju City Government’s commitment to formalise cooperation with MDEC through an official Letter of Intent (LOI), to be exchanged during an official delegation visit to Malaysia led by Chungju Mayor Cho Gil-Hyeong.
In addition, a Memorandum of Understanding will be exchanged between Serunai Commerce, SimplyCare Bio and the Chungju City Government, marking the start of a cross-border collaboration to advance halal digitalisation, digital certification readiness and trusted digital frameworks for agriculture-based products.
Digital transformation of the agricultural sector remains a national priority under the National Agrofood Policy (DAN 2.0), the National Food Security Policy Action Plan and the strategic thrusts of the National Digital Economy and Fourth Industrial Revolution Council (MED4IRN). MDEC said it will continue working closely with the Ministry of Digital, the Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security, the Ministry of Economy, state governments and related agencies, as well as benchmark countries such as the Republic of Korea, to drive inclusive, sustainable and scalable growth while advancing Malaysia’s national digital transformation agenda.