The Role of Islamic Banks in Promoting Brunei's Agricultural Activities

Abstract

It is a fact that agriculture is vital in sustaining national food production. Therefore, agricultural activity is categorized as the most important economic activity - which cannot be ignore in any circumstances - because human civilization totally depends on this activity. The importance of agricultural activity has been mentioned in the Holy Qu'ran, Sunnah, history, as well as in the Islamic scholars' statements. In Brunei Darussalam, the significance of agriculture can be clearly seen through the statistics published by the Department of Agriculture & Agrifood, Ministry of Industry and Primary Resources,which placed this country as one of the highest food consumer per capita in the region. Realizing this situation, His Majesty the Sultan and Yang Di-Pertuan of Negara Brunei Darussalam in his speeches often decrees that the agricultural activity in this country must be strengthened to achieve full national food security. In this respect, the government has carried out various plans and agricultural policies in order to achieve the Majesty's noble intention. However, these efforts are inadequate without the pro-active support from other financial institutions existed in this country, especially the Islamic banks. Hence, this paper will focus its discussion on the important role played by the Islamic banks in stimulating agriculture activity, highlighting methods and some potential Islamic financing modes that can be applied as stimulus tools to the activity, and its impact on economic development.