Great research is

nothing if not shared

Minister Of Agriculture,
Dato Sri Ismail Sabri
says:
Pg2

Make Inclusive
Innovation a way of
life:
Dato Dr. Sharif Haron

Pg2
ion
dit 14 DI
t E
1s 20 AR
M

March 2014
Vol: 001
ISSN 2289-6511

Nanocomposite tray
from agrowaste for
serving food

Weedy rice problem

solved
Pg3

Ground breaking
method of identifying
raw and processed meat
Pg3

Dukung anak proven

with potential anticancer properties

Musseling into
aquaculture

Pg4

Pg9

Pg11

Aerobic rice is a
potential water saving rice
production system and
will be the best option of
producing rice in water
scarce environments

he possibility of declining water availability

in the future is a key threat to Malaysias
food security, which mainly relies on irrigated lowland rice production system
which consumes large amounts of water.
The current system irrigates rice fields with
1,200 2,000 mililitres of water, which is more than
the actual field and crop requirements.
The reasons for this expected decline in water
resource are diverse and location-specific. They
include decreasing quality, decreasing resources,
and increased competition from other sectors.

The increased demand of water for domestic

and industrial uses is likely to receive priority over
irrigation, causing less water to be made available
for agriculture and force farmers to use less water
in rice production.
The declining water availability for irrigated
rice production may change the way rice is produced
in the future. Among the more promising rice production systems that can adapt to water scarcity
in rice production is alternate wetting and drying,
saturated soil conditions, aerobic rice and improved
hill paddy production systems.
All water-saving rice production systems use
less water and expose rice fields to periods without
standing water.
Yield and productivity were comparable under

saturated conditions but lower yield was observed

when rice was grown under drier conditions than
from flooded rice.
Increased growth, higher dry matter production
and yield of rice under flooded conditions have been
attributed to increased nutrient availability due to
physical, chemical and biological reactions in soils.
Rice production under saturated soil conditions
is an alternative to alleviate the problem of water
shortage in irrigated lowlands with proper irrigation infrastructures. Rice grown under saturated
soil conditions reduced water input between 14 and
22% and this represents increased water productivity when compared with flooded rice.
More page 3

Durian goes international

urian is not something that we immediately see as a star on the international

fruit market but the king of fruits is
slowly making its mark on the world, thanks to
its increasing popularity among mainland and
overseas Chinese.
Singapore remains the biggest market for
Malaysian durians, importing RM25.5 million
in 2012, followed by Hong Kong which bought
over RM2 million of the thorny delight and the
third biggest market is mainland China which
consumed RM1.5 million worth of the fruit.
Indonesia and Australia follow closely behind
these key export markets and these are markets
with large overseas Chinese populations.
In the new millennium, durian has become
an exotic culinary experience with wealthy fans
flying into Malaysia and Singapore specially to
enjoy the best fruits at their prime.
This rise in export is in tandem with the increasing popularity of durians among Malaysian
Chinese and this has led to a revival of the crop
which was slowly losing popularity in the 1990s.
Before the decline, demand for durians came
mostly from the indigenous Malay consumers
who were familiar with the fruit and consumed

it fresh and also fermented it for use as a cooking

ingredient.
Export of durians for consumption is limited
to fresh fruit and this has been made possible by
research done by the Malaysian Agricultural
Research and Development Institute (MARDI)
which has created some of the popular varieties
in the market.
The increasing popularity of durians in over-

651006

Welcome
to Scientia
MARDI
Dear Friends of MARDI ,

Aerobic rice, a key

to Malaysias food
security
By: Dr. Sariam Othman
Rice & Industrial Crops Research Centre,
MARDI

772289

seas markets is quite remarkable, considering

that the fruit emits very strong odour and is
even prohibited in Malaysian hotels. Specialised
packaging has been developed to allow for air
transportation without disrupting passenger
comfort.
Air transport is key to the durian export
market because the fruit does not travel well,
having detached itself from the tree fully ripened
and has a tendency to deteriorate within a few
days.
The high premium that durian commands
among foodies makes it possible to use the best
methods for packaging and transport to ensure
that it can reach the market in a palatable state.
Durians reluctance to travel has resulted in a
unique situation where wealthy enthusiasts make
special trips to Malaysia just to ensure that they
can enjoy the fruit at its best.
A more concerted marketing campaign for
the king of fruits, building food tour packages
around the durian season, can be explored as
a way of encouraging durian consumption and
ensuring positive experience of the fruit.
More page 6-7

Welcome to the First Issue

of the SCIENTIA, MARDI `s
R&D newsletter. We provide
bimonthly updates on R&D
activities and share featured
articles on diverse issues of
interest in agriculture and
Agro food policy.
At MARDI, we are dedicated in contributing to the
success of our customers,
stakeholders and valued and
trusted partners. We want to
work in closer partnership
with our clients and stakeholders.
We have revised our approach to plan and deliver
stakeholder engagement. This
newsletter will deliver some or
all of the required information
as suggested .
A central component of
the newsletter is a roundup of
details of scientific events and
research activities concerning
food, agriculture and related
fields.
This first issue of SCIENTIA outlines the scientific
breakthroughs and events
recently organized and introduces other initiatives
and events to be held in the
coming period.
A relevant section is the
featured articles written by
MARDIs scientists and fellow
personnel from the Ministry
of Agriculture & Agro based
Industry which highlights key
initiatives and new technology
that has been developed.
The continuous nature of
our R&D activities and the
need to maintain momentum
ambition and enthusiasm is a
significant challenge to all of
us in MARDI.
It is also our great pleasure to remind you that major
events such as MAHA (Malaysian Agriculture, Horticulture
and Agro tourism Showcase),
the foremost trade show for
agriculture in Malaysia, will be
held at MAEPS from 20 30th
November.
The future success of our
Newsletter depends on your
comments, contributions and
ideas! We do encourage all of
you to help improve SCIENTIA
so that it serves your needs
as researchers and those of
the market which will commercialise MARDIs research
efforts.
We look forward to better
serve the need for information exchange throughout
the food and agriculture
community. We hope you
will find this a useful update
on our activities and would
like to thank everyone who
has supported this edition by
providing useful information.
We hope you enjoy this INAUGURAL Issue and welcome
feedbacks to ensure we serve
you better.
DATO DR. SHARIF HARON
DIRECTOR GENERAL MARDI

March 2014

March 2014

VIEW POINT

TECHNOLOGY

Great research is nothing if not shared

Minister of Agriculture, Dato Sri Ismail Sabri says:

he Malaysian Agriculture
Research and Development
Institute or MARDI is known
among research organisations
around the world for its achievements and the numerous awards
and recognition that it brings home
for Malaysia but great research is
nothing if it is not shared.
For all the good work that is
done by MARDI, many are still not
fully aware what this fine organisation has to offer.
Sharing the result of successful
research is not just a logical next
step. It is MARDIs Corporate Social
Responsibility. The Government
funds research in order to allow the
people to reap the economic benefits
of being ahead of the competition.
Perhaps MARDI is cautious
about blowing its own trumpet and
we understand that. But in todays
fast changing world, we cannot
afford to allow good new techniques
and knowledge to sit in a cabinet
gathering dust and becoming out
of date before it is even commercialised.
I would like to see MARDI take
on the role of educating the public
about what kinds of new research
development results can be taken
to market. A nationwide roadshow
certainly would not go amiss in this
situation.
When tabling the 2014 Budget,
our Prime Minister Datuk Seri
Najib Abdul Razak made it clear
that he wants farmers, livestock
breeders and fishermen to be more
innovative and progressive to boost

Scientists,
researchers and
technologists
at MARDI must
see themselves
as guardians
of the nations
future
From left Dato Dr. Syarif Haron DG MARDI , Dato Sri Ismail Sabri Minister of Agriculture, Dato Mohd Fadil bin Osman Chairman MARDI and
Dr. Sariam Othman
income and their standard of living.
Our farmers and breeders
need to re-examine their old ways
and methodologies and unshackle
themselves from conventional and
static thinking and start thinking
about ways to bring Malaysian
agriculture into the 21st century.
This is crucial if we want to
improve our agriculture yields and
fulfill everyones wish for food security through self-sustenance. As
we progress, demand for food will
increase and Malaysians become
more affluent and together with a
growing population that recently hit
the 30 million mark, can we afford to
remain in our comfort zones?

Scientists, researchers and

technologists at MARDI must see
themselves as guardians of the nations future and you can only fulfill
this role by injecting the spirit of
innovation and improvement into
Malaysian agriculture.
Once farmers, livestock breeders and fishermen know what new
ideas and technology they can
extract from MARDI, they will keep
coming back for more as they realise
how innovation can lead to improvements in yields and therefore their
income and competitiveness.
Agencies like MARDI should be
more aggressive helping this group
to producemore at a lower and more

sustainable cost through optimum

application of resources.
Since taking over this ministry
a year ago, one of our main concerns
is the fact that the agriculture
sector is monopolised by the older
generation due to the widespread
negative perception of the industry.
Partly, this has to do with the
traditional farming methods which
are still widely practiced and this
usually means working hard under
the hot sun for relatively modest
economic reward.
If the younger generation
persists with this perception and
refuses to take the mantle of the
agriculture sector, the countrys

EDITORIAL
Advisor
Dato Dr. Sharif Haron
(Director General MARDI)

MARDI Editorial Team

Dr. Mohamad Roff Mohd Noor

food security in the future is at risk.

This is why the Ministry of Agriculture has adopted as its main
agenda, attracting the younger
generation to get involved in the
industry by creating Young Agroproneur Unit to facilitate the need
of the young farmers.
T he Young Ag ropreneu r
Council which comprises successful agriculture entrepreneurs and
several Non-Governmental Organisations has had a few meetings and
is currently setting the agenda of
attracting more Malaysians to take
part in agriculture as a vocation
of choice.
The MOA is serious in this
mission and we have instructed all
agencies to help and this includes
offering loan facilities to help new
Agropreneurs to set up their patch.
Agriculture transformation
must start now and it must start
with a change of attitude and a
willingness to accept new technology and working together to make
agriculture once again become the
main industry for this country!
In closing I would like to congratulate MARDI coming out with
this newsletter which can play an
invaluable role in sharing with all
stakeholders including the commercial sector, the various research
success that is just waiting to be
taken to market.
I sincerely hope Scientia can
become a beacon for other research
agencies in sharing their work
and making Malaysia a developed
country by 2020.

FIRST ANNOUNCEMENT

Make Inclusive
Innovation a way of
life

Ramlah Md Isa

20 22 June 2014
Palm Garden Hotel, IOI Resort,
Putrajaya Malaysia

Dr. Ainu Husna MS Suhaimi

Maheswary Vellupilai

Copywriter
Shamsul Bahari Mohd Yunos

Designer

Spice Communications Sdn

Bhd

Scientia MARDI
MARDI Headquarters,
Persiaran MARDI-UPM,
43400 Serdang Selangor,
Tel :
Fax :
Email :

603-8943 7317
603-8984 3664
[Link]@[Link]
shusna@[Link]

For navigation and contact,

scan with your smartphone

nnovation is crucial towards achieving a

high-income, high productivity economy that
will propel the country towards a developed
status.
Inclusive innovation will include R&D in
interdisciplinary studies that will result in
creation of practical designs and artefacts and
business models and services, processes or products that can be seen as practical innovative
solutions to market or societal problems that
create a better future.
This approach will consider the interaction
of humans and physical environment throughout
each step of the innovation creation value chain
which will sometimes result in unplanned and
unforeseen new inventions and capabilities for
a better future.
Open innovation models that embrace the
innovation solutions ecosystem yield distinctive,
relevant ideas with both commercial and social
development possibilities.

The source of innovation increasingly flows

from individuals who are unconstrained by set
cultures or organisations and are deeply committed in changing the world around them for
the better.
The fuel to innovate is created when these
kind of people, with their vast expertise, life
experience, passion and ideas, come together
with free reign and in an environment poised
to support new possibilities.
Inclusive innovation studies will focus on
inclusive solutions that are relevant to building
Malaysias future by creating an environment
that rewards risk taking in an unfettered environment allowing for radical, unorthodox
approaches with the potential to disrupt a risk
that is generally too costly for existing businesses or governments to take.
DATO DR. SHARIF HARON
DIRECTOR GENERAL MARDI

For enquiries:
Call: +603 8943 7572 / 7136
Fax: +603 8941 3512
Email: confexh@[Link]
Organizer:

Co-organizers:

Supported by:

[Link]

From page 1

By: Dr. Rosa Roelle

FAO Regional Office For Asia and
the Pacific Bangkok

South and South-East Asia

contributes 23% of total
world food waste, making
us the second largest
contributor to the total
after industrialised Asia

ostharvest losses account for the

majority of food loss in developing
countries in Asia and the Pacific
region and the levels of losses are highest
in the traditional chains that supply mass
markets in the region.
Among the biggest contributors to post
harvest losses are post-harvest diseases,
pest infestation, poor bulk packaging, poor
transportation practices and the human
factor.
With increasing population and
more competitive demand for land and
agriculture space, unchecked food losses
either through consumer wastage or
post-harvest losses have the potential for
causing nutrition deficiency in the region
in the future.
Production oriented traditional supply
chains with weak marketing orientation
and fragmented production units tend
to limit the use of the latest post-harvest
technologies and this leads to higher
post production losses due to the higher
number of layers of handlers between
production and consumption.
Traditional farmers and distribution
chains have limited knowledge of modern
post-harvest technologies and this coupled
with minimal institutional support for
technology improvement is perpetuating
the situation.
The rate of food waste increase is

further exacerbated by the increasing affluence of the region which is now causing
more food waste to be generated at the
dining table.
South and South-East Asia contributes
23% of total world food waste, making us
the second largest contributor to the total
after industrialised Asia.
The issues to be addressed in the effort
to reduce food waste are many and key
among them are raising awareness and
advocacy to change consumer and stakeholder attitudes to food loss and food waste.
The development of post-harvest loss
reduction strategies for the region is
another important step and this can be
achieved through capacity building of
stakeholders in food supply chains.
A policy that promotes the environment for post-harvest development in the
region should be in place with investments
in infrastructure to support post harvest
technologies.
The Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) of the United Nations recently
launched the Save Food Asia and the
Pacific Campaign as part of their Global
Initiative on Food Loss and Food Waste
Reduction : Save Food.
The regional campaign is aimed at
raising awareness and drawing attention to the high levels of food losses and
the growing problem of food waste and
their impacts across Asia and the Pacific
Region.

Nitrogen fertilizer requirement was about

18 26% lower for rice grown under saturated
soils than f looded rice due to better nitrogen
fertilizer utilization.
At the same time, the saturated soil conditions will minimise golden apple snails
(Pomacea canaliculata) infestation since the
presence of standing water in the field causes
snail infestation to spread rapidly.
Aerobic rice is a potential water saving rice
production system and will be the best option of
producing rice in water scarce environments.
The availability of aerobic rice varieties that
can withstand aerobic conditions, respond well
to irrigation and fertilizers, compete against
weeds and deliver high yield, is crucial to
making aerobic rice cultivation successful.
Yield of aerobic rice is generally lower
than f looded rice especially when grown continuously for several seasons, mainly due to
irregular water availability, weed infestation
and nutrient stresses, and a combination of
these factors.
Since weeds are major constraints to aerobic
rice, it must be effectively controlled through
integrated weed management.
Management and options to improve the
early growth of aerobic rice in order to make
the crop more competitive against weeds are
essential. In addition, appropriate nutrient and
other crop management practices will ensure
a successful aerobic rice production system.

The next stage

The impact of possible future water shortage
on national rice production may be mitigated or
overcome completely if rice can be grown with
minimum water under saturated and aerobic
soil conditions.
The two rice production systems mentioned
however, need different management systems
from the normal flooded rice in order to produce
good rice yield.
Growing irrigated rice under saturated
conditions offers great water-saving potential
for rice cultivation in Malaysia and may play
a key role in ensuring the sustainability of
irrigated rice production.
Reduction in yield for rice grown under

Nanocomposite tray from

agrowaste for serving food
By: Dr. Azman Hamzah &
Faewati Abd Karim
Mechanisation & Automation
Research Centre, MARDI

Art Director

Aerobic rice, a key to

Malaysias food security

Managing
postharvest
losses

ecycling is an important
way of reducing our consumption of natural resources and one of the ways is
by re-using biological fibre and
biopolymers from agrowaste
and conver ting them into
natural biocomposites.
Examples of these natural
biocomposites are rice straw
and rice husks that come from
paddy harvesting, pineapple
leaf fibre from pineapple harvesting and kenaf fibre from
new commodity.

Sham Hosni

For enquiries, please contact

Agrowaste

A small quantity of nanoclay is incor porated as a

reinforcement to improve the
properties of the nanocomposite.
The growing urgency to use
environmentally friendly or
green materials with the aim
of replacing non-degradable
materials and reducing the
environmental pollution that
results from large amounts of
plastic waste, has made them
more commercially important
today.
This innovative agrowaste
pr o duc t of fer s n a no cl ay
strength from biodegradable
materials that decompose
naturally over a short period
of time.
These degradable mate-

PROCESSING
Drying
Shredding
Grinding
Mixing
Compounding
Shredding
Extrusion
Hot press

rials are very useful to the

environment as it eliminates
migration of styrene monomer
from polystyrene into food.
T he i mp ac t of u si n g
this product is very high as
envi ron ment a l ly ha r m f u l
polystyrene is prevalent in
the food packaging industry
and they can be easily replaced
with biodegradable agrowaste
nanocomposite materials.
Ap a r t f r om r e duci n g
polystyrene use, migration to
the environment can reduce
e nv i r on me nt a l p ol lut ion
(open burning) while allowing farmers to reduce man
power and cost of managing
the agriculture waste.
However, the change from
polyst y rene to ag rowaste

nanocomposite may require

the government to enhance
consumer awareness on environment friendly material for
packaging.
These new materials have
great commercial potential for
the manufacture of food trays
and reduce the health effect on
consumers through leachate of
harmful substances into food
that is packed in polystyrene
containers.
The production process of
nanocomposite food trays is
relatively simple and requires
prior drying of the agrowaste
materials before shredding
and further grinding. They
can then be mixed before final
extrusion or forming through
a hot-press process.

Product

saturated conditions, if any, can be avoided

through various measures such as timely irrigation and coordination of irrigation with
fertilization and weed control.
A well-leveled field, field and in-field ditches
to facilitate irrigation and more intensive land
preparation are some of the pre-requisites for
successful rice production in saturated soil
conditions.
Aerobic rice cultivation is another alternative for producing rice in water scarce
environment. To make aerobic rice cultivation successful, the availability of aerobic rice
varieties is crucial.
The aerobic rice varieties grown must be
able to withstand aerobic condition, responds to
irrigation and fertilizers, competitive against
weeds and deliver a high yield.
The development of rice production technology in water scarce environment will increase
rice production and ensure that national rice
production and the Self-Sufficiency Level (SSL)
in rice will not be affected by the water scarcity
due to climate change.

Amount of
water saved
(mm)

Component
Land preparation (no
puddling)

190

Seepage and percolation

(no standing water)

250

Evaporation of surface
water

80

Transpiration

25

Total

545
Source: Chan,C.S. (2013)

Amount of water saved from aerobic rice

production system

March 2014

March 2014

TECHNOLOGY

COLLABORATION

Weedy rice problem solved:

MARDI-BASF development of Imidazolinone-tolerant
rice variety shows great promise
By: Dr. Azmi Man, Azlan Shaari,
Hazim Khalid, Chew See Eng
Rice & Industrial Crops Research
Centre, MARDI &

Lim Fung Woie and George
Varghesse (BASF)

Imidazolinone is a known herbicide that is capable of dealing with

weedy rice but it could not be used
directly on Malaysias direct - seeded
fields. There was a need to integrate
the herbicide with a variety of rice
that is tolerant of the chemical.
A programme was initiated
by MARDI and the chemical giant
BASF (Malaysia) Sdn. Bhd. in 2003
to create a solution to this problem
and funded by BASF.

The commercialisation was

carried out in two phases.

EEDY Rice (Padi Angin)

is a form of weed that
can cause total loss of
rice yield when the infestation is very serious and because
it is so similar to cultivated rice,
there is no herbicide that is effective
against this weed.

Phase 1 (2003 - 2007) involved the

transfer of imidazolinone tolerant
gene to the local high yielding varieties and initial line selection. Phase
2 continued with line stabilisation
and varietal evaluation until 2009.
This solution should also compliment current control practices
such as water seeding culture, and
most important of all, to give high
returns. In order to achieve this
goal, the objectives were defined as
follows:
To conduct a series of backcrosses to transfer the herbicide
tolerant gene (PWC-16) from the
donor parent to the Malaysian
elite rice varieties;
To evaluate and select elite Malaysian imidazolinone tolerant
rice varieties for agronomic
performance, chemical and
physical properties as well as
resistance to pest and diseases;
To develop a stewardship guide

for the imidazolinone tolerant

varieties.
MARDI Seberang Perai became
home for the project and by the offseason of 2007, five potential imidazolinone tolerant lines were selected
for purification and evaluation for
yield, agronomic performance,
resistance against major pests and
diseases as well as physical and
chemical properties of the grain.
Phase 2: The lines were further
evaluated in the main season of
2007/08, from which two lines,
MR220CL1 and MR220CL2, were
identified as the most suitable for
testing and further evaluation.
They were promoted in offseason 2008 for further evaluation
under large plot testing in FELCRA
Seberang Perak rice granary and
MADA District IV, Kedah. The
introduction of these varieties is
justified by the need to offer a new
efficient and innovative alternative
method to manage weedy rice in
direct-seeded culture in Malaysia.
The combination of imidazolinone tolerant varieties with
imidazolinone herbicides by BASF
known as OnDutyTM is known as the
Clearfield Production System. The
Clearfield system was launched on
8th July 2010 at FELCRA Seberang
Perak.
This new system proved effective
in controlling weedy rice infestation where no other herbicides or
system can control in direct-seeding
culture.
T he system consists of
Clearfield certified seeds and

OnDuty TM herbicide together with

a Stewardship Guide developed by
MARDI and BASF. The certified
seeds are available in the standard
20 kg bags that farmers usually buy
and are familiar with.
The herbicide is packed in a box
with 4 sachets of 31 g/sachet. The
seed rate is at 140 kg/ha where in
the main granary area of MADA in
Kedah, two bags (2 x 20 kg) per relong
Kedah (3.5 relong Kedah = 1 ha) is
used which is the common seed rate
practiced by farmers.
The OnDuty TM rate is at 217 g/
ha (7 sachets) whereby in Kedah two
sachets (2 x 31 g) per relong Kedah is
applied. The certified seeds and OnDutyTM is sold together as a package.

Benefits of the Clearfield

Production System
From the results and experience
in trials carried out at various locations in Malaysia from 2003 to 2010,
the following substantial benefits
were observed:
Clearfield Production System for
rice is cost effective; whereby an
additional RM250 expenditure
in weeding cost gives an additional yield increase of more
than 1 t/ha;
Early and effective control of
weedy rice will prevent any early
competition of weedy rice which
will cause losses and damage to
the wet sown rice crop;
Reduce contamination from
weedy rice, thereby improving

The existing
technologies have a
limitation on processed
food that has been
heated in the production
process and also in pure
fat-based products.

dentifying animal species in food is not

only critical for the determination of Halal
food but it is also important in enforcing
the Food Labelling Regulations. Mixing
undeclared animal species in food products
is illegal under Food Labelling Regulations.
Apart from regulatory reasons, the inclusion of less desirable animal meat in a food
product can have economic, health, food safety
and religious implications to the consumers
and we are all consumers.
Several methods have been developed to
identify meat species including electrophoresis, chromatography, DNA hybridisation and
immunoassays. Immunological techniques,
including agar-gel immunodiffusion (AGID)
and enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay
(ELISA), are most commonly applied for meat
species identification.
The existing technologies have a limitation on processed food that has been heated
in the production process and also in pure
fat-based products.
This limitation is critical because most
foods consumed in developed countries have
been subjected to varying degrees of heat treatment at one stage or another, either through
cooking, baking, broiling, toasting, roasting,
canning, concentrating, pasteurising, drying
or frying to modify its flavour or texture and

(PCA) plot, it is concluded that the meat

products of different species (beef, pork,
chicken and lamb) cooked by microwave,
roasting, hotpot and currying are separated
and grouped well according to the species
(Figure 1).
Fractionation of TAGs confirms that the
discrimination of meat from different animal
species is possible for both raw and cooked
meat products, and reveals that the differences
produced by the various processing methods
are much less than the variations observed
between species.
This invention has the potential of better
supporting the global processed food market
by providing improved consumer confidence

With its green

technology
attributes,
bacteriophage
is able to
replace chemical
pesticides. It can
be produced at a
relatively low cost,
is environmental
friendly, nonhazardous and has
the potential to
increase agriculture
exports and forest
farming produce in
Malaysia.

Economic Impact
Studies have shown that
Clearfield plots yielded 2.5 t/ha more
than conventional plots; correspondingly net income was higher by more
than RM2,700/ha.
In FELCRA Seberang Perak
rice granary, Clearfield Production
System has given a good impact on
rice production where this system
was first introduced in 2010. During
season 1/2010, only 50 ha of rice fields
used Clearfield Production System
which gradually increased from
season to season until about half of
the whole area (60%) adopted this
technology in season 1/2013.
Rice yield production gradually
increased from season to season
and in season 1/2013, an average
rice yield of 7.02 t/ha was achieved,
the highest yield in the history
of FELCRA Seberang Perak rice
granary.

Ground breaking method of identifying non-halal food products

to improve its storage ability.
The adulteration with pure fat and oil with
different/other animal species is difficult to
detect using current technology.
Our invention works on the basis of
identifying animal species in raw and thermally processed/cooked conditions based on
molecular levels of animal fats.
The invention involves the fractionation
of triacylglycerols (TAGs) on analytical instrumentation and the profiles are analysed
by chemometrics to reveal the differences
between animal species. The results remain
reliable even when analysing processed
products.
This is an entirely a new approach for
animal species identification as TAGs from
animal fat have not been completely resolved
elsewhere.
Using TAGs as an analyte, which is stable
at high temperature, offers clear and distinct
advantages in determining animal species in
heat processed food products.
The fact that almost 96% of animal fats
contain TAGs makes it the perfect analyte for
detecting any form of adulteration with fat and
oil from undeclared animal species in the food
products. Fractionation of TAGs overcomes
the limitation of the existing technologies.
The fractionation process which can
identify mammalian, avian and poultry meat
sources, even in processed/cooked products,
is performed using a reverse phase high performance liquid chromatography (RP-HPLC)
coupled with an atmospheric pressure chemical ionisation mass spectrometry (RP-HPLC/
MS-APCI) and an ion trap mass spectrometer.
To overcome the difficulties in attempting
to detect adulterants that have approximately
the same chemical composition as the original
food product, chemometrics analysis is used
for identifying and determining animal fats
belonging to different animal species.
From the principal component analysis

ACI-MARDI-SAAS smart fertiliser

collaboration

the quality of harvest and reducing weedy rice dockages;

Reduce the amount of herbicides
released into the environment.
The excellent pre-emergence
activity of OnDutyTM allows delay in
flooding. The delay in water supply
also inadvertently reduces Golden
Apple Snail damage in rice fields
where the snails remain inactive
under saturated field condition.
Current and normal agronomic practices used by farmers
are sufficient for the application of
Clearfield Production System.

Malaysian innovation:
By: Dr. Haslina Hasan

Technical Services Centre, MARDI

that any form of adulteration can be clearly

detected.
This is very important for the groups of
Vegetarians, Muslims, Koshers, Hindus and
other consumers that are particular about
their diet.
This latest technology will also enhance
the capability of enforcement and regulatory
agencies and departments and assist quality
control and quality assurance departments
of food manufacturers.
In general, this technology has potential
to support the global value of the halal market
processed food which is about USD2 - 2.5 trillion annually and socially, assisting about 2
billion Muslims worldwide.

Figure 1

Figure 1. PCA scores plot of TAGs for raw and processed meat products
of pork, chicken, beef and lamb

By: Wan Azha Wan Mustafa,

All Cosmos

griculture industry is one

that is growing at an eversteady pace throughout the
world. While Malaysian agriculture
continues to enjoy positive demand
in traditional markets, growth this
year is expected to be gradual as it
would depend on the purchasing
power of consuming countries,
their gross domestic product (GDP)
growth, population increase and
new markets.
However, number of wilt disease,
in the absence of any effective treatment, would most likely result in
decreased property values. The
disease could destroy the entire
industry and a biological practice

will be an effective method in controlling from further scattering.

Malaysia`s perspective in
sustainable development requires
balancing these competing demands
to make the best use of our natural
resources.
ALL COSMOS INDUSTRIES
SDN. BHD. (ACI), a pioneer in biofertilisers, is a 100% subsidiary of
All Cosmos Bio Tech Holding. All
Cosmos is a Malaysian manufacturer and marketer of high grade
bio-organic and bio-chemical fertilisers. They make every effort
to be the innovative driving force
in the biotechnology industry whilst
aiding to improve the countrys
ecological status.
MALAYSIAN AGRICULTURAL RESEARCH & DEVELOPMENT INSTITUTE (MARDI)

is given the multifaceted issues

and components of the agriculture
system, research in sustainable
agriculture will incorporate R&D
projects from multiple disciplines
- from science and engineering, to
social science and design, and from
field to consumer acceptance as the
final usage.
SHANDONG ACADEMY OF
AGRICULTURAL SCIENCES
(SAAS), is a comprehensive, nonprofit research organisation of agricultural sciences and technology
directly subordinate to Shandong
Provincial Government with a
history of 110 years. Its headquarters is located at No. 202, Gongyebei
Road, Jinan 250100, Shandong, P.R.
China.
MARDI, ACI & SAAS, set
China to be the prime in agriculture

research and development (R&D)

activities in the country from the
three giants. The trio signed an extension project on the R&D of edible
fungus cultivation & bacteriophage.
The bacteriophage technology
uses microbe virus to infect and
kill the disease causing bacteria.
This can be applied as a biocide in
agriculture and forestry and helps
to reduce food safety risks and loss
suffered by farmers due to bacteria
outbreaks. A number of successful
trials of phage-based bio-pesticide
from 3 in 1 bio-fertiliser for controlling bacterial wilt disease in fruits
like tomato, chillies & dragon fruit
were done.
The MoU was signed by chairman of the board of directors of ACI,
Dato Tony Peng Shih Hao, SAAS
was represented by its director

and deputy head, Professor Guo,

Director General of MARDI, Dato
Dr. Sharif Haron and witnessed
by the Minister of Agriculture &
Agro-based Industry Malaysia, YB
Dato Sri Ismail Sabri Bin Yaakob
and Secretary General Ministry of
Agriculture & Agro-based Industry Malaysia, YBhg. Datuk Mohd.
Hashim Bin Abdullah.
With its green technology attributes, bacteriophage is able to
replace chemical pesticides. It can
be produced at a relatively low cost,
is environmental friendly, nonhazardous and has the potential to
increase agriculture exports and
forest farming produce in Malaysia.
The enterprises will indirectly
support the current efforts made
by ACI & MARDI in expanding the
countrys food safety programmes
through several research projects
that have been initiated, among
them the increase in rice production, industrial competitiveness,
improving competencies in the
poultry industry, and also higher
productivity and greater sustainability of the agriculture industry.
These initiatives will be funded
by the long term research grant
scheme. The research collaboration also benefits joint training of
staff and researchers of China &
Malaysia, knowledge exchange as
well as co-publishing of SMART
Fertiliser (disease control).
The methodology of escalating
the countrys agricultural sector
to the next level is to invest in high
technology R&D activities to spur
its development and ensure its sustainability. The development in the
agricultural sector could help the
country reduce its dependency on
importing food and save on foreign
exchange flows.

Seed management: MARDI

in the lens
Key to the future of
agriculture
on large scale farms almost to the

exclusion of less popular crops or

By: Dr. Mohammad Selamat b.
Madom variations of a crop. Obviously
this practice is not conducive for
Plant Materials, Seeds & Animal
enhancing biodiversity.
Breeds Production Unit, MARDI

ithout seeds there can be

no agriculture and within
the culture of modern agriculture, a well defined seed policy
can make the difference between
prosperity and decimation.
Seeds are one of the six pillars
for food production especially for
staple food crops of the annual cropping types. Seeds are also one of the
means of establishing a new crop
each season and they determine the
genetic potential of the crop that
is grown on a particular location.
Seeds also provide the vehicle to
transfer new genotypes (varieties)
from research institutions into the
farming community. Despite this
fundamental role in crop production, seeds also have some special
attributes arising from their
biological properties, which make
them a difficult product to handle.
This is not only a result of physiology and genetics, which are of
general application, but there are
also strong economic and policy
dimensions that are specific to
crops, countries and regions.
Modern agriculture relies on
a few chosen species being grown

Biodiversity is accepted as
one of the reasons why life has
flourished on earth and persistent
suppression of biodiversity in our
food and commercial crops may
have yet untold consequences on
the environment and our own
existence.
One of the key to future agriculture success lies in promoting
new diversity and replacing the
uniformity that has prevailed and
dominated the industry and this
is something that can be achieved
through a well thought out seed
policy.
The success of a seed policy
will be reflected in the number
of varieties that are available to
market. It is important for Governments to encourage the entrant of
new players in the seed industry
to ensure diversity rather than
promoting more of the same.
The reality in Asean is that
agricultural research and the seed
industry is mostly still in Government hands and most of the existing
facilities are operated by Government agencies. New entrants should
be treated as an equal and where
possible, open access or lease of existing processing facilities should

be considered.
State-operated agricultural
research agencies are essentially
gatekeepers to diversity and in
many cases they promote very
few varieties in order to achieve
their Key Performance Indicators.
However, a successful seed policy
must have a mechanism that allows
for more varieties to be made available to the market.
There are various ways in
which this can be done, such as by
offering licences to multiply new
varieties.
Public sector breeding can be
the stimulus for the emergence of
a new seed industry and in order to
successfully assume this role, they
must obtain new varieties of seeds
to strengthen their portfolio.
However, an equitable policy
for accessing these varieties must
be devised and, in the context of
plant variety protection, a royalty
payment may also be expected.
Regional cooperation between
national research agencies should
be an important dimension in the
Asean seed policy. For this reason,
cooperation in variety testing
would be a step forward.
An effective seed policy is not
just about preserving biodiversity and providing variety to the
market, it actually plays a key role
in ensuring food security for the
region, if not individual countries.

Yang Dipertua Negeri Sarawak, His Excellency Tun

Datuk Patinggi Abang Haji Muhammad Salahuddin
sucking Stingless Bee Honey directly from the
beehive during his visit to Langkawi.

March 2014

March 2014

FOCUS

FOCUS

From the wild

to the world

MARDI
clones
durians

Evolution of durians from the wild to commercial crop

By: Dr. Salma Idris
Strategic Resources Research Centre,
MARDI

Durian season in various states of Malaysia

Johor

urian is well known in South East

Asia but even as late as the end of
the last century, it was popular
only among the Malays who cultivated the fruit for their own consumption.
There are 29 species which have been
identified and they are believed to originate
from Malaysia but is now widely distributed throughout Asia from Sri Lanka to
Myanmar, Thailand, Borneo, Indonesia, the
Philippines and Madagascar. In Malaysia,
24 species have been identified and Durio
zibethinus is the main cultivated species.
The durian flowering season varies
from state to state but it peaks in July and
August. Perak enjoys two peak seasons and
Pahang appears to be capable of continuous
production except in April, May and June .
Durian fruits fall once ripened and
depending on the varieties, this occurs 117
to 145 days after flower initiation.
Commercially there are 5 varieties that
make up most of the market and they are all
clones or hybrids. These include D2, D24,
D99, D145 and MDUR78, 79 and 88 hybrids.
Recently, D197 or Mousang King has become
a favourite in the market and fetches some
of the best prices.
Traditionally, there are a few well
known varieties e.g. D2 or Dato Nina which
originated from Melaka and the trees tend
to be medium large and erect in form. It
flowers regularly but does not provide high
yield. Among the advantages of this clone is
its tolerance to Phytophthora stem canker.
The fruits are medium to large ranging

State

Jan

Feb

Mar

Apr

May

Jun

Jul

Aug

Sep

Oct

Nov

Dec

Kedah
Kelantan
Melaka
Ng. Sembilan
Pahang
Perak
Perlis
Pulau Pinang
Sabah
Sarawak
Selangor
Terengganu
Source: FAMA (2005)
from 1.3 - 1.8 kg in weight. Although the
flesh is thick and the seeds are small, D2
durians are hard to split open. The fruit is
good, however, it is not widely grown.
D24 originates from Bukit Merah in
Perak and gives a high yield between 100
and 150 fruits/ tree/ season. It is one of the
leading commercial clones in Malaysia.
It flowers regulary and is popular among
the growers.
Its maximum productivity is between
10 and 15 years. The fruits range from

1.0 - 1.8 kg with thick, light yellow, firm,

creamy and smooth flesh. The fruit flavour
is described as sweet and nutty with a slight
bitter aftertaste.
Care must be taken by the grower to
prevent and control stem canker which can
cause uneven ripening where parts of the
flesh remains hard (mangkar). Drought can
also contribute to uneven ripening.
D99 is another popular clone originating from Thailand. It is widely planted due
to consistency in fruiting with off season

Malaysian durian species

fruiting habits and early season harvest.

The D99 is also a good polleniser for D24.
This is a particularly hardy clone which
is tolerant to stem canker and drought while
still producing good fruits. The fruits are
small ranging from 1.0 - 1.5 kg. Despite the
size, this is still a favourite among fans due
to the thicker bright orangey-yellow flesh.
Fruit flavour is classified as mild and has
a fine texture.
Durian Hijau or D145 originated from
Beserah, Pahang. The tree is medium-large

In the early 1990s

MARDI sought to
improve the D24
and came up with
the MDUR 78, MDUR
79 and MDUR88
hybrids which offer
fruit quality that is
comparable to D24
but offers tolerance to
stem canker, a major
problem with the
original clone.
and susceptible to dry conditions as well as
stem canker. Although there is consistency
in fruiting, it is heavy bearing when in
season and the fruits are easy to split.
The aril is of medium thickness, bright
yellow, fine textured and tastes sweet and
nutty with good aroma.
In the early 1990s MARDI sought to
improve the D24 and came up with the MDUR
78, MDUR 79 and MDUR88 hybrids which
offer fruit quality that is comparable to D24
but offers tolerance to stem canker, a major
problem with the original clone.
These hybrid varieties also offer longer
storage life, lasting between 70 and 80 hours
after fruit drop before they begin splitting.
Interestingly, two wild species continue
to enjoy market popularity. Durian Kuning
or Durian Otak Udang Galah is scientifically identified as Durio graveolens. The aril
can come in a wide range of colours from
crimson red to white and is sweet with a
cheesy texture. Some describe the taste like
roasted almonds.
Durian Sukang or Durio oxleyanus grows
on huge trees that fruit later than D. zibethinus and D graveolens. Unlike other species
which have five locules, this species only has
four and the aril is corn yellow, smooth and
sweet with strong fragrance. The season is
usually in September in Brunei.

MDUR 78

MARDI continues to improve on the

available clones through hybridisation and
clonal selection with a second F 1 hybrid
population being introduced with a wider
set of parents. This time six local and four
Thai clones were used in the hybridisation.
The local clones were D24, D10, D38, D52,
MDUR88 and KK11 while the Thai parents
were D98, D99, D113 and Cemposi.
The 10 selected parents have wide genetic
range due to their diverse origins and they
were selected for high consistent yields, good
fruit quality and special characters such as
unique taste.
Based on initial fruit quality assessments, 13 of these hybrids showed commercial potential and were put in replicated
trials in Bukit Tangga in October 2000,
Kuala Kangsar in July 2002 and Jelebu in
November 2003.
Assessment continues on these hybrids.
The future of the durian industry, especially
in the export market, relies on packaging
technology and this is now more than adequate and the previous decline in interest
for the fruit seems to have made a reversal.
Further research into the potential of
durians, especially in the development of
processed products and enhanced global
marketing will help it to conquer new
markets.

Durio dulcis

Durio carinatus

Durio singaporensis var.

jerangauensis

Durio pinangianus

Durio carinatus

Durio griffithii

Durio oblongus

Durio lowianus

Durio kutejensis

Durio oxleyanus

Durio graveolens

Durio testudinarum

MDUR 79

MDUR 88

Source: FAMA (2013)

March 2014

March 2014

ACHIEVEMENTS

BUSINESS

High antioxidant drink from Citrus microcarpa

(Limau kasturi) by-product

Young Agropreneur Programme to

attract new generation of farmers
By: Mohd Arif bin Adenan
Young Agropreneur Unit &
National Blue Ocean Strategy
(NBOS)

KASTURI DRINK made from calamansi by-product (Citrus microcarpa)

Dr. Suri and his research team

chronic diseases.

By: Dr. Suri Roowi

Calamansi or limau kasturi
or Citrus microcarpa is a small
Food Technology Research
citrus fruit with loose skin and a
Centre, MARDI

Background

he health benefits of citrus

have been known for centuries. In 1747, James Lind, a
naval surgeon noted that crewmen
with scurvy made a full recovery
after eating oranges and lemons.
Several studies showed that citrus
fruits appeared to be associated
with lower risk of colorectal,
esophageal and stomach cancer
as well as stroke. Citrus fruits are
also associated with improved
blood lipid profile and survival
of the elderly. Health benefits
of citrus are attributed to the
richness of polyphenols that are
able to counteract oxidative stress
and hence reduces risk for certain

sweet musky smell. Although this

citrus fruit is regularly used with
black tea and ice, to date not many
studies have been done on the development of health drinks from
calamansi. Phloretin-G is one of
the beneficial compounds in calamansi and has high Trolox Equivalent Antioxidant Ratio (TEAR)
value at 3.4, which is higher than
epigallocatechin-gallate, a potent
antioxidant compound in green
tea. Phloretin-G is also stable
at high temperature and high
pressure. KASTURI DRINK is a
newly developed high phloretin-G
drink developed from calamansi
by products.

Description of technology
The identification of phlore-

tin-G in calamansi was developed using High Profile Liquid

Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry technology (HPLC-MS). The
antioxidant activity of phloretin-G
was accessed using HPLC with
on-line antioxidant assay. This
technique requires a radical
scavenging compound called
2,2-azinobis- (3-ethylbenzothiazoline-6-sulfonic acid) (ABTS).
The newly developed KASTURI
DRINK is made by fermenting
selected parts of calamansi that
contain high amounts of phloretin-G with edible microorganisms.
KASTURI DRINK still has
high level of phloretin-G even
after 18 months of storage. Its
quality was tested scientifically
and underwent sensory evaluation by selected panellists with an
overall acceptability of 9.0. Apart
from that, KASTURI DRINK also
contains vitexin-2-O-rhamnoside

which has been used as an antihypertensive agent in the U.S.A.

Vitexin and its glycosylated forms
exist in Cratageus oxycantha
(hawthorn berry) and is also sold
commercially as anti-ischaemic
and cardiotonic agent. In addition, KASTURI DRINK contains
fibre from selected sources which
enhances its benefit.

Novelty of innovativeness
Newly discovered phloretin-G
in calamansi is a natural antioxidant that can be used to develop
high value antioxidant products
such as KASTURI DRINK. It is
a cheaper substitute for several
types of powerful antioxidants
which are being marketed in the
world such as green tea which is a
powerful antioxidant in the world
market, and is known for their
potent antioxidant properties. It
is also a substitute for mango-

ACHIEVEMENTS
1. Gold Medal (International Invention, Innovation and Technology Exhibition (ITEX-2013)
2. Malaysian Innovative Product Award (International Invention, Innovation and Technology Exhibition
ITEX 2013)
3. Best Invention (ITEX 2013) for Research Institutes and Organisation (2013)
4. Gold Medal (Malaysian International Technology Expo - 2013)
5. Gold Medal (MARDI Science and Technology Exhibition MSTE 2012)
6. Innovative Product Award (MARDI Science and Technology Exhibition- MSTE 2012)
7. Intellectual Property Rights (Technology to produce High Phloretin-G drink -4 Feb. 2013, with the
IP no. TS 2013/02/0007)
8. MARDI BEST Article published (2011)-J. Agric. Food Chem. 59(22):12217-12225
9. Gold Medal (BioInnovation -BioINNO-Awards)- 2013
10. Gold Medal (International Trade Fair Ideas-Inventions-New Products (IENA-Germany) 2013

steen which is rich in xanthone,

which is a fat soluble antioxidant
compound, but high intake of fat
soluble antioxidant compounds
may have negative effects. With
the newly developed enzyme
technology, phloretin-G content
in the developed product can be
increased. The product developed
will be at par or even better than
any of the established antioxidant
products in the market. This
product will also benefit general
public to maintain good health and
help functional food industries to
develop high quality drinks.

Economic impact
The functional food industry,
consisting of food, beverage and
supplement sectors, is one of
several areas of food industry in
Malaysia that are experiencing
fast growth over the recent years.
The newly developed product
- KASTURI DRINK may be able
to substitute similar imported
functional foods in Malaysia
and hence will reduce import
of functional foods. KASTURI
DRINK can also serve as a good
alternative downstream product
for the local citrus industry.

Potential users
Consumers interest in functional foods has increased since
the late twentieth century as
peoples awareness in achieving
and maintaining good health
improved. The newly developed
KASTURI DRINK may satisfy
the demand of health conscious
consumers.

The first Malaysian watermelon hybrid

INVENTOR : Bahari Masaruddin, Zainal Abidin
Idris, Mohd Rafii Yusop and Ghizan Saleh
R&D TEAM : Norzila Ghazalli, Muhamad Khalid
and Othman Ismail
Horticulture Research Centre, MARDI

New watermelon hybrid variety:

SUPERHORT-RED
watermellon

SUPERHORT-RED
S

UPERHORT-RED is the first local watermelon hybrid

variety developed by crossing inbred lines NDGS-21
withGS-10. It has early maturity and can be harvested
about 30 days after flowering or 70 days after transplanting.

The fruit is elongate, light green and has dark green

stripes on its surface and the flesh colour is dark red.
The central soluble solid content is 12%, and with crisp
and more juice.
The average fruit weight is 2.8 kg and mean yield is
30 t/ha. The fruit has good quality and highly suitable
for storage and transportation. This variety has moderate
tolerance to fusarium wilt disease.

BEFORE THIS HYBRID:

Farmers rely on importation of watermelon hybrid

seed
Increase in seeds cost every year
Most of the hybrids not well adapted in all environments
Low yield and susceptible to major diseases

(Image via: MOA - foto bank)

he National AgroFood
Policy, which aims
to ma ke Ma laysia
achieve Sel f Sustenance
Level of food production requires the drive and spirit
of innovation that youth can
offer, but right now their participation in agriculture is
worryingly low at 14 per cent.
The Young Agropreneur
Programme is designed to
attract young farmers by
offering them competitive
career paths and positive
income streams through
special packages drawn up
under the programme.
A l l Malaysians aged
between 18 and 40 can apply
to take part in this innovative programme which
requires neither guarantor
nor collateral.
The programme is not
li mited to i ndividua l s.

Companies owned by youths,

co-operatives and associations which are involved in
agriculture are encouraged
to apply.
Application forms are
available on the Ministry
of Agriculture website, a
special facebook page Unit
Agropreneur Muda, all agriculture department offices
and all 12 agencies under the
ministry.
The forms can be submitted to any district agriculture office or directly to
Unit Agropreneur Muda in
Putrajaya for evaluation.
Offers for courses or
advanced mentoring programmes will be made to
interested participants after
the evaluation process.
The Young Agropreneur
programme comprises five
components; free training
and mentoring, friendly financing, technical advice,
focusi ng on high-va lue
agriculture and application
of modern technology. The
programme covers 20 main

agriculture sectors.
The most popular activities, are chilli and rockmelon
fertigation, lead the way with
298 young farmers registering interest in them.
Next up is stingless bee
cultivation with 135 registered farmers and a close
second is Honey Bee cultivation with 130 participants followed by livestock farming
which has attracted 107 new
farmers.
Aquaculture in the form
of fish cultivation has attracted 44 registrations.
So far, 876 youths have
registered and they are
undergoing various phases
of the programme from attending courses to working
on their own agriculture
projects.
T he s e fa r mer s w i l l
undergo periodic training
organised by Unit Agropreneur Muda under the Ministry of Agriculture to improve
their chances for success.
The Ministry is collaborating under the National

Musseling into aquaculture

Blue Ocean Strategy to find

and activate these lands for
possible group farming.
Interested young farmers
can also contact any district
land office for help in identifying ideal land in their
vicinity.
So far six projects under
the fishery sub-sector is
up and running as contract farms under a lead
company. In Pasir Salak 10
participants are taking part
in Patin and Tilapia farming
in Sungai Perak.
A large sca le honey
bee project is underway in
Pekan, Pahang while stingless bee honey production
is on the way in Kampung
Perik, Kuala Nerang.
Bera in Pahang is home
to cattle production with
27 participants. This town
has been named as the livestock hub for the East Coast
Economic Region (ECER)
while Johor is playing host
to pineapple growing for
young farmers on idle state
government land.

Bivalve projected to contribute 140,000 tonnes to

national aquaculture production by 2020
demands of agro-tourism, the Department of Fisher-

By: Mazuki Hashim ies carried out a pilot project in early 2011 located in
Department of Fisheries, Putrajaya.
Telok Jawa, Johor Bahru on a newly identified mussels

Mussel culture is still

considered a new venture
and still faces resistance
to investment because
value added activity on
musseling is still limited
to a few products and
the industry does not see
the export potential of
mussels.

ussels have the potential to rival cockles as

the main contributor to the countrys bivalve
production if hurdles of production technology and marketing can be overcome.
The Fisheries Department is carrying out research
into environmentally intensive production and harvesting system as well as refinement of the culture
techniques to ensure production of more consistent size
range to allow for improved downstream processing
and marketability of mussels.
Adoption of Best Practice, Standards and Guidelines for mussel farming recently established in Europe
and new technology for grading, handling, transportation, conditioning and storage of mussles will play key
roles in achieving our production targets.
A major barrier to market expansion is consumer
experience of gastro-enteritis after consuming shellfish, therefore adequate measures to address the issue
of contamination must also be put in place.
The government, through legislation, must enforce
the shellfish industry to adopt sanitation practices
such as depuration and improve the quality of cultured
shellfish.
Mussel culture is still considered a new venture
and still faces resistance to investment because value
added activity on musseling is still limited to a few
products and the industry does not see the export
potential of mussels.
Finally, mussel farming does not have an environmentally friendly image, the rafts and long lines
are not picturesque and not suitable to agro-tourism
concepts promoted by the country.
To overcome the issue of presentability and

farming technology from Norway, the SmartFarm.

The pilot project consisted of six on-growing units
of HDPE pipelines with attached netting materials and
it managed to provide the aesthetic solution, as the
pipelines were less visible when compared to using
traditional buoys or rafts.
With an expected yield of 25 tonnes per 126 meter
long line three to four times higher than existing
traditional culture systems, it has prompted a private
company, Hannan Seafarmer Sdn. Bhd. to invest in a
commercial scale mussel farm in an area of 10 hectares
in the Straits of Johor.
By February 2013, the company successfully installed 51 units of Smart Farm-Units at the site and
established a basic processing facility adjacent to the
farm with the capability for processing about 11,000
tonnes of fresh mussels annually.
With export demand especially from Singapore
growing steadily, the company has decided to
acquire a specialised work-boat integrated with
a harvesting machine, further perfecting
the Norwegian mussel rearing technology.
With the above developments, the aim
of the government to build up large scale
mussel farming has been met.

10

March 2014

March 2014

FOOD SECURITY

Contract
Farming:
Matching production with market
demand

Under this
programme,
farmers enjoy
market guarantee
for crops which
conform to the
type, variety,
quality, grade,
packaging and
production

By: Ahadiah Mohd Khairi

Federal Agricultural & Marketing
Authority (FAMA)

atching agricultural production to market demand

is not only a good way of
reducing wastage but is also a way
of improving farming returns,
especially for small and medium
scale operations.
T he Fe dera l A g ricu lt u re
Marketing Authoritys Contract
Farming Programme is a High
Impact Project introduced to assist
small and medium scale agricultural entrepreneurs by providing
guaranteed market for their agricultural produce and ensuring the
remunerative returns.
This programme was also intended for matching production of
agricultural produce with market
demand to increase the income of
producers.
It also expands production of
fruits and vegetables, ensures that
agricultural produce is of high
quality, meets market needs and
improve technology transfer along
the supply chain.
Under the programme, farmers
enjoy market guarantee for crops
which conform to the type, variety,
quality, grade, packaging and production schedule as specified and

mutually agreed upon.

The implementation of this
programme takes into account
all related aspects along the
agri-produce supply chain such
as support services, post harvest
facilities which includes collecting
centres and grading centres.
In 2012, the Contract Farming
Programme targeted to develop
7,000 hectares of crop area involving 4,500 participants.
Until the end of December 2012,
contract farming has been successful in developing a total crop area
of 7,128 hectares (101.8 percent)
involving 4,219 participants (93.8
percent).

MAHA 2012
At the MAHA Exhibition 2012,
FAMA through Contract Farming,
implemented a programme to
support Apollo Melon and Rock
Melon marketing direct from the
farm.
This was in line with the
tagline used in MAHA Melons
Direct from Farm to MAHA.
The main areas of Apollo
Melon cultivation were in the
Royal Project Kampung Banggol,
Kampung Teliar, Batang Merbau
Per ma nent Food P roduction
Park (Taman Kekal Penghasilan
Makanan TKPM) and Kampung
Jeram Tuli, Pasir Putih. Mean-

while in Perak, Apollo Melons

were planted in Bagan Datoh and
Simpang Pulai.

Programme To Increase
Supplies from Contract
Farming to the Farmers
Market (KUKUH)
In 2012, FAMA implemented
the KUKUH programme. This
was in line with the fifth focus of
the 2012 National Budget 2012- to
cushion inf lationary pressures
and enlighten the lives of the
people.
This was achieved by increasing the Contract Farming
Programme to ensure sufficient
food supply and the produce sold
directly to the farmers markets.
The main objectives in the implementation of this programme were
to:
1. Increase the supply of vege t able s a nd f r u it s i n
Farmers Market through
the concept of selling direct
the produce from contract
farming to Farmers Market;
2. Cushion the inf lationary
pressure by offering reasonable pr ices lower t ha n
market prices; and
3. Offer better prices to producers than that offered by
wholesalers.

Organic agriculture in
Malaysia
By: Dr. A. Sivapragasam and
Dr. Mohamed Roff

CABI-SEA and MARDI

HE pivotal agenda for the

Malaysian organic agriculture (OA) sector will be to
maintain the momentum and move
from the fringes into the mainstream
agriculture with stronger entrenched
Government policy that invariably
goes beyond the rhetoric.
Malaysias OA sector began in
the 80s but despite strong initial
interests shown by various private
and public-sector organizations, the
overall growth scenario has been one
which is relatively slow compared to
the other countries in the Region.
Based on the figures quoted by
the Department of Agriculture (DoA
2010), the acreage under organic agriculture has shown increasing trends
from 600 ha in 2005 to about 1,540 ha
in 2009. This makes up of about 0.01
% of arable land (in 2009).
The farms are small, market is
robust but supply is highly unreliable

or cautious. The products are mostly

vegetables and fruits grown in a small
acreage.
There has been pioneering initiatives in rice, oil palm, fish and poultry,
however, a significant amount of
organic products that are sold in retail
shops to hypermarkets continue to be
imported.
Like other products, consumer
demand determines the growth of
organic farming. Currently, there is
generally low awareness of organic
products especially with regards to
their authenticity and thus the reluctance to pay premium prices.
Meanwhile, at the growers level,
many do not have adequate knowledge
on OA; pricing and marketing; pests
and disease management, difficulty
in keeping records and to meet full
criteria for SOM standard.
The high cost for certification
by foreign certification bodies is a
deterrent. Finally, at the retailers
level, many face inconsistent supplies and are not sure of the product
authenticity.
On the global scene, organic
farming now takes up more than

31 million ha (Zehnder et al. 2007,

Annual Review of Entomology) .
The trend is led by the countries
in the Oceania Region (11.8 million
ha) followed by Europe (6.9 million
ha), Latin America (5.8 million ha),
North America (2.2 million ha) and
Asia (2.9 million ha).
However, this still represents less
than 1% of the total agricultural area
of these countries.
Zehnder et al. (2007) also reported that the worldwide market
for organic products is estimated at
USD28 billion (2004 statistics), with
the highest growth occurring in the
United States, where organic sales
grew by USD1.5 billion in 2005 to reach
USD12.2 billion.
A steady market growth has been
recorded for organically grown food
in the past decade in the USA (from
17-20%) and Europe (>25%) as compared to 2-3% for conventional food
(Rozhan 2009).
Health concerns have been the
major driving force behind the organic
sector followed by environmental and
social concerns, energy efficiency and
to some extent, spirituality.

11

COMMERCIALISATION

Traceability
System
developed for
durian export
to China
domestic logistic process. The

By: Department of Agriculture

third stage scrutinises the actual
Malaysia
export process of transferring the
[Link]
product from a Malaysian port to

The application of a
traceability system does
not only ensure quality
but also enhances the
integrity of handling and
processing of frozen
durian which is fast
gaining popularity in
China.

Traceability System has

been developed as an
initiative of the Malaysian Agriculture Department
to encourage market confidence
in the quality and safety of food
and agricultural products that
we export.
This system forms an important component of the National
AgroFood Policy which demands
traceability to original source of
all food and agricultural products.
The system is now accepted
by China and all consignments
of frozen durian that is processed
by processing centres accredited
by the Agriculture Quarantine
Service Inspection of China
(AQSIQ) can be traced to source,
raising market confidence in our
quality assurance.
The application of a traceability system does not only ensure
quality but also enhances the
integrity of handling and processing of frozen durian which is fast
gaining popularity in China.
A process flow for traceability
of frozen durian was developed.
The process involves four stages
of traceability, starting from
the farm or processing/ storage
facility before proceeding to the

the receiving port in China and

finally the tracebility system
looks at activities that take place
in the importing country.
This traceability system will
help fulfill the Agriculture and
Agro-Based Industries Minister,
Dato Sri Ismail Sabri Yaacob who
wish to see an increase in exports
of fruits, especially durians and
papayas to China.
Negotiations are being held
with the relevant authorities in
China so that more fresh Malaysian fresh fruits can be brought
into the country.
Speaking to reporters after
opening the Penang state level
Road to MAHA programme on
February 15, the minister said;
Currently, we only export frozen
fruits there due to the strict
regulations to export fruits into
China.
Despite the increase in
demand for Malaysian durians
and papayas in China, the supply
for fresh fruits are not sufficient.
Ismail said that the interest
from China is very real and they
had sent representatives to do
research here and inspect our
fruit orchards, to see whether
the farmers adhere to their standards.
Apart from government
negotiations and promotional
efforts in China, orchard owners
must also improve their orchard
management and adopt technologies and good agricultural practices to increase the production
of durians.
According to trade figures,
Malaysia has exported RM1.4
billion in local fruits, with 30 per
cent of the amount ending up in
China.

Could City farming be the way

of the future?
Urban Horticuluture, beyond
the fad and contributing towards
sustainability

oday, 72 per cent of Malaysians live in

townships or urban areas and every year
2.4 per cent of the country grows into
concrete jungles.
If the current projections hold true, urban
poverty will be a major problem and statisticians predict that by the year 2020 between 40
and 45 per cent of our urban dwellers will live
in economic hardship.
The rising cost of food is expected to use up
between 50 and 70 per cent of their income and
this expenditure can be reduced by practicing
urban horticulture. If their urban plot is well
tended, it can even bring extra income.
Urban horticulture can ensure food security
and give them affordable supply of healthy food
for the low income group.
MARDI is keen to make urban horticulture
a way of life in Malaysia and is organising the
National Urban Horticulture Conference 2014
from April 15 to 17.
Although urban horticulture is new to
Malaysia, it has been widely practiced in
large cities like London, Hamburg and even
our neighbour, Singapore where land is scarce.
To develop urban horticulture in our cities,
besides conducting research, we need to initiate
joint efforts and cooperation among agencies

and private sectors involved in horticulture

and landscape, city and community development authorities, housing developers and policy
makers.
Urban landscape is also equally important
as it ensures a balanced ecosystem, improve
environment and health. Both urban landscape
and urban horticulture should be developed
concurrently to ensure sustainability of cities.
This conference is aimed at addressing issues
and challenges and come out with well-planned
strategies in initiating and developing urban
horticulture in Malaysian townships and cities.
Several areas of discussion have been identified and one of the key areas is the latest in
urban horticulture trends and technology as
well as on-going research and development.
The conference is also set to identify issues,
challenges and approaches in developing urban
horticulture in Malaysian cities.
Cooperation and understanding between
government agencies, private sector, community and individuals interested in urban
horticulture and landscape is key in ensuring
success, therefore the conference will provide
a networking session for all parties.
The conference will be held at the Berjaya
Waterfront Hotel in Johor Bahru.

Future concept of vertical Dragonfly Urban Farm

(images via: Vincent Callebaut)

Dukung anak proven with

potential anti-cancer properties
Formulation as a multi-targeted natural therapeutic product
By: Dr. Indu Bala Jaganath
Biotechnology Research Centre,
MARDI
To bring Dukung anak to the
forefront of the herbal industry,
it is important that this crop is
backed up with comprehensive
scientific backings where the
potency and the efficacy of this
plant are thoroughly validated.

he rich cocktail of phytonutrients from Dukung anak

has been found to exhibit
anti-cancer properties
through its effects on the apoptosis
pathway in melanoma and prostate
cancer cells.
The formulation also produced
high anti-viral activity; up to 94%
inhibition against dengue virus by
down-regulating the synthesis of an
important structural protein needed
during viral replication.
This formulation was also able
to reduce blood serum cholesterol
comparable to conventional treatment with statins. Statins may cause
hepatic damage in mice models.
Dukung anak (Phyllanthus sp.) is
a weed which can be seen growing
in wastelands, along roadsides and
drains. However, in Malay, Chinese
and Indian folklore, this herb is
treasured for its many healing
properties.
It has been nicknamed as the
stonebreaker due to its anti-diuretic
ability. It has also been employed to
treat hepatitis, bacterial infections,
diabetes and hypertension.
Although there has been extensive scientific evidence on the
different efficacies of this herb, the
main drawback is that, just like other
herbs, the scientific studies carried
out on the herb is very fragmented
and sometimes inconclusive.
One of the main reasons behind
this is that the production of health

Phyllanthus watsonii

P. urinaria

benefiting compounds from Dukung

anak is very susceptible to the
varying climatic changes, affecting
the standardization of the herbs.
There are four different species of
Dukung anak in Malaysia and in
a many cases these species have
been misidentified, resulting in a
number of discrepancies and irreproducibility of scientific reports in
terms of its chemical constituents
and bioactivity.
To bring Dukung anak to the
forefront of the herbal industry, it is
important that this crop is backed
up with comprehensive scientific
backings where the potency and the
efficacy of this plant are thoroughly
validated.
Through a government (MOSTI)
grant amounting to RM 1.5 million,
a multi-disciplinary mega project
entitled Physiological manipulations to stabilize and/or increase
bioactive compounds in Phyllanthus
sp. for its anti-viral and other health
related properties is being done at
the Biotechnology Research Centre,
MARDI. To limit the discrepancies
in the efficacy of dukung anak, the
first step employed was to botanically
characterise the species of Dukung
anak in Malaysia. Four species of
Dukung anak, i.e Phyllanthus watsonii, P. niruri, P. amarus and P.
urinaria have been identified .These

species were grown in a standardised

manner utilising a consistent amount
of irrigation and fertilizer and in a
semi-controlled environment to limit
the effects of environmental factors
on the production of phytonutrients.

P. niruri

P. amarus

Further development
for dengue and cholesterol
reduction

Through its validated multitargeted intervention, the bioactives

from Dukung anak formulation has
the potential for incorporation into
functional foods or for the development of therapeutic remedies.
Many pharmaceutical companies
worldwide produce new anti-viral
and anti-cancer formulations extracted from herbs due to its potential
for effective treatment as it targets
many cellular and molecular disease
pathways making it a more effective
therapeutic agent.
This formulation can be especially important in Malaysia as
the number of dengue infection has
increased drastically in the last few
decades, where in 2010, our country
has been reported to have more than
40,000 cases of dengue with more
than 50 deaths.
Therefore, effective antiviral
drugs to dengue infection is really
in great demand.
This formulation was also found
to be safe and effective in reducing

Dukung anak products generated & collaboration

with Furley Bioextract Sdn. Bhd.
blood cholesterol comparable to the
commercially used drug, statin.
Statins currently constitute a major
revenue in the pharmaceutical
industry, exceeding US$25 billion
in 2009 (Statins: The World Market
2010-2025).
Due to the side effects of statins
(associated with muscle and liver
toxicity), there is a huge demand
on the search of safe natural plant
alternatives for the reduction of blood
cholesterol towards better cardiovas-

cular health and one such product is

the Phyllanthus formulation derived
from this innovation.
Other than the development of
a phytonutrient rich cocktail, some
novel technologies were also generated through this innovation. A
total of four patents were filed from
2011-2012. Currently this technology/ innovation is in the process of
being licensed out to a local Bionexus
Herbal Company, Furley Bioextracts
Sdn. Bhd.

12

March 2014

EVENTS

Muhyiddin: Food security

remains a big challenge

Asean population to hit 786 million by 2050, higher

food productivity crucial
In ASEAN, as
our income and
standards of living
continue to rise,
the challenge
is not only to
produce sufficient
food but to be
able to produce
the so-called
richer foods,
such as meat and
milk to satisfy
ASEAN regional
demand.

Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin accompanied by MOA Minister, Dato Sri Ismail Sabri and his deputy, Datuk
Tajuddin Abdul Rahman visited AMAF exhibition.

ven when we have

achieved economic progress and modernisation
today, Deputy Prime
Minister, Tan Sri Muhyiddin
Yassin says the future of global
and regional agriculture and food
scenario is still uncertain.
He expresses that concerns as
to whether we can produce and
sustain enough food for everybody
remains.
This is particularly worrying
given that the United Nations
predicts the worlds population to
breach the 9.5 billion mark by the
year 2050. In Asean, total population would increase by more than
30 percent to reach 786 million by
the same year.
Muhyiddin was speaking to the

35th Meeting of Asean Ministers

on Agriculture and Forestry (35th
AMAF) and the 13th Meeting of
Asean Plus Three Ministers on
Agriculture and Forestry (13th
AMAF Plus Three) and The 3rd
Asean-India Ministerial Meeting
on Agriculture and Forestry (3rd
AIMMAF).
ASEAN would certainly need
to continuously work towards generating more food. Hence, our food
security framework has to be based
on increased productivity and efficiency, in order to produce our
own food supply at a sustainable
level, taking into account global
market openings and liberalisation, as well as increased exports
of food from the Asean region.
In ASEAN, as our income

and standards of living continue

to rise, the challenge is not only
to produce sufficient food but to
be able to produce the so-called
richer foods, such as meat and
milk to satisfy ASEAN regional
demand.
Therefore, we, in ASEAN,
need to work closely together to
drive earnestly the important
initiatives set out by our Leaders
as ref lected in the Statement
on Food Security in the ASEAN
Reg ion. Mu hyiddi n add s
rapid globalisation is also affecting
agriculture production, causing
agriculture land and land banks
to be turned into commercial developments resulting in reduced
number of planting acreage, and
displacement of workers in the

agriculture sector.
Such trends, if not monitored and supervised with great
care, will bring grave repercussions to many member nations,
hence ASEAN as a region.
He says in the pursuit of global
competitiveness we must not
leave behind the millions of small
farmers and traders whose livelihoods depend on agriculture.
Food security must also
be achieved while improving
sustainable forest management.
ASEAN Member states must reinforce strategies and activities
that promote Sustainable Forest
Management (SFM).
The adoptions of the ASEAN
Criteria and Indicators for Sustainable Management of Tropical
Forests is a significant achievement in this direction.
We should strive with
every effort to put in place
best practices and meaningful
mechanisms to enable effective
government supervisions, and
mitigate abuses of forest handling by commercial enterprises.
Muhyiddin also invited Asean
Ministers to consider initiating
a common fund dedicated to the
development of innovation and
R&D activities.
Perhaps with a common and a
greater pool of investment, better

and wider options of R&D outputs

and efficient costing would facilitate ASEAN members to choose
and apply suitable technologies and
methods for their respective countries, and hence leading to higher
productivity and competitiveness.
With stronger and more
unified networks of partnerships,
the full potential of a prosperous ASEAN community can be
realised with greater impact, he
concluded.
At the end of the meeting,
Asean Agriculture Ministers,
under the chairmanship of Malaysias Agriculture Minister, Dato
Sri Ismail Sabri Yaakob agreed to
focus their efforts and resources on
the achievement of the identified
key deliverables and prioritised
measures in order to ensure the realisation of the ASEAN Economic
Community (AEC) deliverables in
the Food, Agriculture and Forestry
sectors by 2015.
The on-going progress made in
the implementation of the ASEAN
Integrated Food Security (AIFS)
Framework and the Strategic Plan
of Action on ASEAN Food Security
(SPA-FS) 2009-2013 is also notable.
To move forward, we agreed to
develop a second phase of SPA-FS
to accommodate some changes
towards the common goal of longterm food security and reflect the
important contribution of the
Food, Agriculture and Forestry
sectors in the realisation of the
ASEAN Community.
The ministers were encouraged
by the significant progress made in
enhancing the competitiveness of
agricultural commodities through
the development and implementation of ASEAN best practices,
namely Good Agricultural Practices (GAP), Good Aquaculture Practices (GAqP), and Good Animal
Husbandry Practices (GAHP).
We supported the initiative to
establish an ASEAN certification
and accreditation mechanism to
support the implementation of
these best practices.

Agriculture should not be marginalised for

developed status Tan Sri Ali Hamsa

he agricultural sector is
one of the key sectors of
focus for the country, and
to be among the main agenda
of the country in world trade.

Tan Sri Dr. Ali Hamsa accompanied by MOA Secretary General, Datuk
Seri Mohd Hashim Abdullah and DG MARDI, Dato Dr. Sharif Haron,
launched new hybrid of orchid named after him. Renanthera Tan Sri
Ali Hamsa.

Efforts to
transform the
sector is a huge
challenge, as it
not only involves
a change in the
style of activities,
but also require
a shift in mindset
of society as a
whole

In our efforts to achieve developed nation status by 2020, the

agriculture sector should not be
marginalised .
As guarantor of the countrys food security, the sector
continues to be strengthened as
a competitive business entity.
Nevertheless, the agriculture
sector needs transformation in
order to confront future challenges and competition.
Ef for ts to t ransfor m the
sector is a huge challenge, as
it not only involves a change in
the style of activities, but also
requires a shift in the mindset
of society as a whole.
The stigma that agriculture
is an activity of low return has
been set in the minds of the
public.
We have to get rid of this
stigma and this should be done
through M A R DI and related
agencies. Traditional farming
approach should be changed by

using the latest technology applications and innovations that

are relevant and practical .
MARDIs role in generating
technologies and innovations is
very large and especially significant as a driver of the countrys
agricultural transformation.
MARDI has many technologies and innovations that can
contribute to the development
of the agriculture sector.
However, t here a re sti l l
areas to be explored and room
for improvement as the concept
of innovation itself is constantly
changing to suit the times.
MARDI must continue to adapt
and evolve to ensure continued
development of the agricultural
sector.
With proper planning, programmes and initiatives, the
innovations can be successfully implemented and can bring
great impact on the community
and the nation.