WOAT ON SEAWEED

Mosti signs research, innovation pacts with Sabah

Published on: Tuesday, October 11, 2011 Email to a friend Printer Friendly

Kuala Lumpur: The Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation (MOSTI), through its agencies, signed three Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) and two Memorandum of Agreement (MoA) with the Sabah State Government for technology development, innovation and research programmes in agriculture and its related industries in Sabah.

The exchange of documents was witnessed by Deputy Chief Minister who is also Minister of Agriculture and Food Industry, Datuk Seri Haji Yahya Hussin and Mosti Minister Datuk Seri Dr Maximus Johnity Ongkili.

The first was between Mosti agency Mimos Berhad (Mi) and Sabah Agriculture Department (JPS) for a development programme on Precision Agriculture Farming.

For this purpose, JPS will be the technology recipient of the Wireless Sensor Network (WSN) developed by MIMOS together with Universiti Putra Malaysia, Kontron Design Manufacturing Services Sdn Bhd and Intel Technology Sdn Bhd.

The Agriculture Research Centre in Tuaran has been identified for the pilot project for the WSN Technology for Precision Agriculture.

Once the pilot project is completed, a commercial entity will commercialise the WSN technology in Sabah as well as other parts of Malaysia.

The WSN has been acknowledged by PEMANDU Electrical & Electronics (E&E) NKEA as a potential New Source of Growth for the Nation.

Under the second MoU, MIMOS will provide its semantic technology to develop a knowledge management platform for Sabah Development Authority (Sedia)'s Herbal Medicine Knowledge Repository Project.

This repository project will be linked to various other similar knowledge repositories around the world, thus enabling local user access to information from both local and global knowledge databases on herbal medicine.

The third MoU between All Cosmos Industries Sdn Bhd, a bionexus company, and Sabah Softwoods Bhd forged a smart partnership through the establishment of a joint venture company called Sabah Softwoods Hybrid Fertiliser Sdn Bhd (SSHF), to be facilitated by the Malaysian Biotechnology Corporation, an agency under MOSTI.

Under this collaboration, SSHF will construct an organic fertiliser production facility in Sabah using All Cosmos Industries Sdn Bhd's technology, with an investment totaling RM50 million.

The event also witnessed two tripartite Memorandum of Agreement (MoA) between the National Agribiotechnology Institute (ABI), JPS and an international bionexus company Pure Circle Sdn Bhd; and between ABI, Pure Circle and Koperasi Pembangunan Desa Sabah (KPDS).

Both MoA were signed to develop the Stevia planting industry in Sabah.

Stevia is a shrub (Stevia Rabaudiana Bertoni) capable of producing non-sugar zero calories sweetner through two natural compounds Stevioside and Rebaudioside which have a high value and increasing global commercial demand.

The sweetness of the two compounds is reported to be 200-300 times that of sugar. The collaborations involve the optimisation of agronomic practices for several varieties of Stevia to select the variety most suitable and economical for commercial planting in Sabah.

It is also aimed at ensuring market access for the Stevia products by ensuring farmers involved in the programme have up-to-date information on the commodity price and market demand.

A briefing session on the progress of the programmes was also held prior to the MoU and MoA exchanges.

In the Ninth Malaysia Plan (9MP), MOSTI has funded 104 research and development (R&D) projects in Sabah related to the agriculture industry valued at more than RM54 million.

These projects were implemented with the collaboration of Sabah state government agencies such as JPS, SEDIA, Sabah Rural Cooperative Development (KPD) and State Fishery Department.

The projects funded under the ministry's Technofund (for pre-commercialisation) and the ScienceFund (research- based) for agriculture technology and industry development in Sabah included in aquaculture.

Examples are projects involving the indigenous freshwater fish Turongou (spotted barbs) and marine products such as sea cucumber, oysters, seaweed and grouper.

Mosti has also funded InnoFund and Community Innofund programmes in Sabah throughout 9MP and through 10MP.

The Innofund programmes were aimed at generating income for small industries and communities through the application of technologies, while encouraging entrepreneurship.

The programmes include vanilla cultivation in Kota Marudu, virgin coconut oil processing in Kudat and animal feed and organic fertiliser production in Penampang.