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Agriculture

The Rubber Industry Smallholders Development Authority (RISDA) has allocated RM300 million to replant 30,000 hectares of rubber nationwide nationwide this year, RISDA deputy director-general Datuk Wan Mohamad Zuki Mohamad said here.He said the allocation encompassed various forms of replanting aid for rubber smallholders, such as fertiliser and seedlings.

The Agriculture and Agro-Based Industry Ministry, through the Malaysian Pineapple Industry Board (MPIB), will work with Pelita Holdings, a company owned by the state government, to develop 10,000 hectares of pineapple plantations in Sarawak. Minister Datuk Seri Noh Omar said RM 4.1 million had been allocated for the initial stages of the project at Sebuyau in Samarahan division, Igan/Oya in Mukah division, and Sarikei. Noh said the Sarawak MPIB that was gazetted on Dec 3 last year, was expected to help promote commercial pineapple cultivation projects in the state. A processing plant would be built under the long-term plan, he added.
Medical & Policy
Sesuai dengan matlamat penubuhannya untuk memanfaatkan sumber semula jadi marin dan selaras dengan tagline, Terokaan Seluas Lautan, Universiti Malaysia Terengganu (UMT) sejak beberapa tahun lepas menjalankan penyelidikan spesies kuda laut dengan tumpuan kepada beberapa aktiviti. Usaha tersebut dijalankan oleh Institut Bioteknologi Marin (IMB), UMT dengan kerjasama Perbadanan Bioteknologi Johor dan Jabatan Perikanan. Menurut Pengarah IMB, Prof. Dr. Mohd. Effendy Abd. Wahid, IMB melihat beberapa kemungkinan potensi kuda laut dalam pencarian terhadap sebatian aktif iaitu untuk membantu merawat kanser, ketumbuhan, mati pucuk, pembekuan darah, penyaktoksik buah pinggang, asma, rawatan kulit, antipenuaan, sebatian anti kelesuan, system hormon ketahanan badan serta saraf.
The full implementation of the mandatory biodiesel blend programme could be deferred to next year, said Plantation Industries and Commodities Minister Tan Sri Bernard Dompok. He said the ministry was still looking at the fuel’s extra cost of about four to five cents per litre, mainly due to transport and blending costs, which needed to be handled amicably prior to selling the fuel. The Government has a one-off capital expenditure (capex) of about RM200mil for the biodiesel programme but is concerned about the extra cost and which party would absorb it.
Trade
Malaysia is still committed to selling biodiesel nationwide, despite delays in the plan and a high palm oil price. The government had initially set January 1 as the deadline to sell B5 biodiesel, a mixture of 5 per cent palm oil and 95 per cent diesel at all petrol stations nationwide. Once the government finalises the price of B5, the fuel will initially be sold in Selangor, Negeri Sembilan, Pahang and Johor.


Industry
The Malacca state government via Melaka BioTech Holdings Sdn Bhd and India’s biotechnology company Vivo BioTech Ltd (India), is to sign a memorandum of understanding (MOU) for the opening of a RM500 million medical facility at the Bukit Rambai High-Tech Park in Malacca to produce vaccines for tropical ailments. Chief Minister Datuk Seri Mohd. Ali Rustam said the MOU will be linked in New Delhi, India next week Wednesday and witnessed by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak who will be on an official visit to India from Tuesday.

Hasil penyelidikan Institut Penyelidikan dan Kemajuan Pertanian Malaysia (MARDI) diiktiraf dalam pertandingan sains dan teknologi di dalam mahupun di luar negara. Di peringkat kebangsaan, MARDI menempa nama semasa Pameran Inovasi Kebangsaan (NICE) 2009 dan Pameran BioMalaysia manakala di peringkat antarabangsa semasa Pameran Perdagangan Antarabangsa (IENA) Nuremberg, Jerman dan terkini Brussels Innova di Belgium. Semua ini membuktikan teknologi yang dijana MARDI diiktiraf serta mampu memberikan manfaat kepada petani dan usahawan tempatan.

Senari Biofuels Sdn Bhd has launched Sarawak’s first biodiesel plant at the Sejingkat Industrial Park, near Kuching. The RM80 million plant, which will have the capacity to produce 120,000 tonnes of methyl ester per year, is expected to be fully operational by March this year. He said with its completion, the people in the central Sarawak region will have access to biodiesel from the Senari Biodiesel plant, probably at the same price as the normal petroleum diesel in the market.

Investment
Malaysian entrepreneurs are invited to establish palm oil refineries in Central Kalimantan Deputy Governor Ir Achmad Diran said as the province’s oil palm industry is developing rapidly, there is a need for more refineries to cater for the 1.2 million tonnes of crude palm oil produced in Palangkaraya (Central Kalimantan). “We have 4 million hectares of land which is suitable not only for oil palm but also for rubber cultivation,” he told a Malaysian delegation of journalists and businessmen from Sabah, led by former Sabah chief minister Datuk Harris Salleh who are on a 10-day visit to Kalimantan.