By Ashley Sim
KUCHING, Nov 28: The Department of Agriculture (DOA) Sarawak has established a protocol to grow terung asam Sarawak using fertigation technology.
By utilising rain shelter, developing vacuum freeze-dried chips of selected fruits, vegetables, and tubers, and optimising a post-harvest treatment using Generally-Regarded-As-Safe (GRAS) salts against pineapple black-rot, the department has been able to increase the fruits’ shelf-life.
Food Industry, Commodity, and Regional Development (M-Ficord) Sarawak Minister Dato Sri Dr Stephen Rundi Utom told the august House that during the 48th International Convention on Quality Control Circles 2023 in Beijing, China, DOA Sarawak received a Gold Award for their innovative Dabai Shell Crusher Machine to extract nuts from the dabai seeds.
“DOA Sarawak’s digital platform, ‘Weed, Insect, Micro-organism Collection Sarawak (WIMICS)’ has won a Gold Award in the Innovative Competition organised by Universiti Malaysia Sarawak (Unimas) this year.
“Another innovation, the Rapid Field Test Kit for Citrus Greening Disease called SwiftScan, has also won a Gold Award in the same competition.
“By collaborating with Unimas, DOA Sarawak has developed a Multiplex Polymerase-Chain Reaction method for detection of tungro viruses in paddy and accorded a ‘Copyright’ status by the Intellectual Property Corporation of Malaysia (MyIPO),” he said when presenting the ministerial winding-up speech during the Second Meeting for the Second Term of the 19th Sarawak State Legislative Assembly (DUN), which was held at the DUN complex here today.
Dr Rundi added that his ministry continues to adopt, adapt, and create new technology packages that are suitable and applicable to the Sarawak environment. — DayakDaily
