PEKAN: A group of researchers from Universiti Malaysia Pahang (UMP) recently invented a mengkuang (screwpine) leave cutting machine to help handicraft entrepreneurs in the cottage industry.
Its Faculty of Mechanical Engineering senior lecturer Dr Ahmad Fitri Yusop said his team had embarked on the project in 2015 to tackle the problem faced by mengkuang weavers who had to deal with the thorns of the mengkuang leaves.
Joined by his colleagues, Dr Mohd Adnin Hamidi, Dr Daing Mohamad Nafiz Daing Idris and an undergraduate from the engineering faculty, Mohamad Izuan Izzudin, Ahmad Fitri said they completed the project sometime early this year.
He said the team got the idea after meeting with a group of mengkuang weavers in Sabah who complaint that they were having trouble slicing the thorny leaves.
"We felt that a machine that is able to process the leaves will encourage more people especially those in the rural areas to participate in the mengkuang weaving industry.
"In order to process the mengkuang, the thorns will have to be removed and doing it manually can be time consuming and painful.
"After series of trial and error, we came up with the cutting machine made from high quality aluminum. It is also equipped with a blade and has an electric motor. Based on the feedback from mengkuang operators, the machine helps to shorten the leaf-cutting process," he said.
Ahmad Fitri said the machine's prototype is currently being utilised by operators near Tasik Chini here who are actively involved in producing handicrafts from mengkuang leaves and they regularly provide feedback on how the machine could be further improved.
"Our team is currently in the second stage to provide some improvements including making the machine more cost-efficient. Since mengkuang weaving, once a leisurely pastime, is now a thriving cottage industry, we hope to promote the product to various parts of the country and also go international.
"Our team received a pre-commercialisation grant amounting RM26,000 from UMP and we received the support from the Pahang branch Malaysian Handicraft Development Corporation, Polytechnic Kota Kinabalu and East Coast Economic Region," he said.
He said the machine will be sold between RM2,000 and RM5,000 per unit, and the price will remain affordable to cater for those operating in the rural areas.
The tall, thorny mengkuang or pandanus are collected, boiled and then dyed and weaved into colourful gift boxes, mats, beach bags and hats.