SRC invites agencies to collaborate in research
KUCHING: The Ministry of Education, Science and Technology Research, through Sarawak Research Council (SRC) is inviting departments and agencies to collaborate with them in conducting research.
Its minister Dato Sri Michael Manyin said the Sarawak Research Council Bill was tabled at the last State Legislative Assembly in Nov last year, and now in force, and wanted agencies like Universiti Pertanian Malaysia, Bintulu, Universiti Malaysia Sarawak ( Unimas), and Sarawak Biodiversity Centre (SBC) to work together with SRC.
He said collaboration between various government and private sectors was important to transform the agriculture sector in Sarawak.
“I believe these agencies are working on their own now, without any main agency to coordinate them,” he said at the opening of International Scientific Conference on Indigenous Crops 2018 ( ISCIC2018), which was attended by 200 international and local participants here, yesterday.
The theme of the conference is ‘ Potential Indigenous Plants for Commercialisation’, which highlights four main tracks; wild indigenous plant sources, food from indigenous crops, domestication and indigenous plants, and production and commercialisation of indigenous crops.
Manyin said SRC would not interfere with those agencies conducting researches, but to coordinate them, lest they end up in theory, newspapers, and magazines without any commercial values.
He added his ministry, together
I believe these agencies are working on their own now, without any main agency to coordinate them. Dato Sri Michael Manyin, Ministry of Education, Science and Technology Research
with Sarawak Biodiversity Centre, had already formally collaborated with Trinity College of Cambridge University ( United Kingdom) where the Sarawak government, through SRC, would work with Trinity College on all the researches for the next three years.
“We hope to work together with all the research agencies,” he said, adding that this was the first time Universiti Putra Malaysia Bintulu and the ministry, conducted the conference ( ISCIC2018).
Manyin also said the Sarawak government, through SRC, was concentrating on five clusters - bioindustry, food and agriculture, biodiversity and forestry, environment and sustainable energy, and engineering and technology.
These clusters, headed by Assistant Minister of Education, Science and Technology Research Dr Annuar Rapaee, would have one international conference each. The first one yesterday started with food and agriculture cluster.
On the indigenous crops and plants, Manyin said Sarawak had many types of indigenous crops and plants that have medicinal value.
“Before the 1950s, clinics and hospitals very few because connectivity was not there. The indigenous people were very much dependent on herbal plants they could find in the jungles.
“Through trial and error, their sicknesses were cured. Malaria is a good example. The plant, which produces quinine, is found in Sarawak. Quinine, which can cure malaria, is never properly coded and researched.”
Today, SBC has coded probably more than 10,000 indigenous plants and crops.
Manyin added: “We hope that with your knowledge and expertise, you can work with SBC or SRC taking advantage of the huge potentials in the medicinal aspect. The same can be applied to food items such as dabai and terung asam.
“With the conference today, we hope to not only discover the potential values of these crops but also to discover their commercial value because Sarawak, through the Ministry of Modernisation of Agriculture, would like to be self sufficient in food production by 2030,” he said.
Meanwhile, the director of UPM Bintulu Campus, Professor Dr Bujang Kim Huat said indigenous plants had been traditionally used by many ethnic people for the cure of many diseases.
“The knowledge on indigenous plants has been passed from one generation to the next. Indigenous crops with unrealised potential contribute to human welfare, particularly for income generation, food security and nutrition,” he said.
On the conference yesterday, 24 lectures from renowned speakers and 60 posters on indigenous crops were presented.
Assistant Minister of Education, Science and Technology Research Dr Annuar Rapaee, dean of the Faculty of Agriculture and Food Sciences (UPM Bintulu) Associate Professor Dr Shahrul Razid Sarbini and ISCIC2018 chairman Dr Patricia King Jie Hung were among those present at the opening ceremony.