| Lyna Mohamad |
THE recently inked agreement between Brunei’s International Halal Trade Hub and Services Sdn Bhd (IHTHS) and Malaysia’s Economic Development Management Organisation (EDMO) will begin a collaborative partnership that sees both parties working to solve existing agricultural issues each country is encountering.
Highlighting this in an interview, EDMO Chairman Ariff Fadli bin Abdul Wahab added that Brunei has soil issues that cause disappointing crop yield, and EDMO will help resolve this without having to change the standard operating procedure (SOP) that local farmers adopted.
“We will be educating them on the use of our Genkimo product and highlight to them that Genkimo is not a fertiliser, but a supplement to the fertiliser that helps to redevelop the soil and reduce insect attacks on the crops,” Ariff Fadli said. “[It is a] defence system where we treat the soil first before [the crops get] damaged by these insects.”
He pointed out that the product is a technology innovation from the Malaysia Agricultural Research and Development Institute (MARDI) which helps to not only treat the pH of the soil, but also helps double crop yield at farms.
The EDMO Chairman said that the key components in agriculture are soil, water and wind, and EDMO, after having done studies and tests on local farms here, found that the pH of the soil at these farms is low, which is not conducive for farming or agriculture.
“We are coming in to help bring a fresh breath to agriculture in Brunei as what we have done for several other countries outside Malaysia, and sharing our strategy to diversify products and cooperation,” he added.
“Prior to offering the Genkimo product for use on Bruneian farms, we had to collect data to prove that the products are suitable for use and do resolve the soil issues, studying plots of paddy fields. This took us around 110 days of monitoring via stages, of which the development we will follow up on.”
He added, “Our partnership also involves educating the local farmers on the benefits of other parts of the crops they grow. Usually farmers will only take the fruits of the crops and dispose of the other parts, which is wrong as everything is usable and can be recycled into many things.
“We are excited to be well received by our Bruneian counterparts after numerous talks and meetings as our agenda is to help the people and country upgrade and enhance their agricultural industry. We are very much looking forward to this collaboration with Brunei.”
Meanwhile, Genkimo inventor Dr Ramli bin Mohd Noor from MARDI, who was also in the country for the signing, disclosed that the three Genkimo products he invented can be used for a broad range of applications.
“Taking Malaysia as an example, it has been proven how effective Genkimo has been when used in plantations in the country, such as oil palm plantations,” he said.
“The product has helped trees bear fruit, which were otherwise unable to, and also doubled yield from the palm trees. Crops, fruits, vegetables and other agricultural plants can also be revitalised if sprayed with diluted concentrations of the Genkimo product.”
Dr Ramli began inventing the Genkimo products in 2007 and achieved good results within four years, after which the product was commercialised.
Among the signatories to the agreement was the Young Farmers Group of the Youth Development Centre, Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sports, the group inking their signature to collaborate with EDMO to create sustainable downstream services to promote self-employment and cluster development.
Leading the Young Farmers Group at the signing was Hairinshah bin Tahiruddi. During the signing, he disclosed that as the representative of the group, he has been entrusted to use the Genkimo product at his 20 plots of farmland at the Wasan Agricultural Development Site, a project which began last Tuesday.