Community development model for poverty eradication of indigenous people in Malaysia

Abstract

Orang Asli is one of the most vulnerable groups in Malaysia, with a disproportionately high incidence of hardcore poverty. The community development model (CDM) was adopted to implement the catfish farming program for the Orang Asli at Kelantan, Malaysia. A focus group discussion (FGD) was conducted to explore the benefits and challenges of the catfish farming program. A total of ten Orang Asli had participated in this study. Content analysis was conducted and it was discovered that the knowledge of Orang Asli on catfish farming and marketing has increased. Besides that, this study also found out that Orang Asli has gained significant skills specifically in business management. Moreover, this project is still ongoing and it is expected to provide opportunities for Orang Asli to increase their income from the sale of catfish. Besides that, identification of challenges is very crucial in the effort to improve this program in the future.