KUANTAN: In a move to boost the agriculture sector, Universiti Malaysia Pahang (UMP) has established strategic ties with a Qatar-based agricultural development company Agrico to commercialise a new organic fertiliser.
UMP vice-chancellor Professor Dr Wan Azhar Wan Yusoff said UMP will now work with Agrico in various fields including research, product development, commercialisation, and expertise exchange in agriculture which will be utilised in Agrico’s greenhouses in Doha, Qatar.
He said the strategic cooperation with Agrico, a supplier for agricultural systems and green house-grown products in Doha, will benefit UMP in sharing expertise to meet industry needs in the future, not only within the country but also abroad.
"UMP is interested to promote modern agriculture technology with Agrico. Besides the new formulation that will be developed, this collaboration involves exploration of new opportunities for commercialisation of organic liquid fertiliser with prebiotics named Pre-Pecto on a large scale.
"This product has been used by Agrico on a smaller scale, and the results have been outstanding," he said after the memorandum of understanding(MoU) signing ceremony between UMP and Agrico's International Projects Development chairman Ahmed Hussain Al-Khalaf.
Wan Azhar said two UMP researchers - Dr Noormazlinah Ahmad and Dr Siti Hajar Noor Shaarani - were involved in the formulation of Pre-Pecto. He hoped more researchers from the university will follow in their footsteps.
"We want more UMP researchers to explore opportunities to cooperate with others on an international level, especially with Islamic countries around the globe. Such cooperations will certainly elevate UMP’s credibility in leading high-level Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) programmes," he said.
Meanwhile, Ahmed Hussain said the joint efforts between Qatar and Malaysia in the area of agricultural technology will pave the way to establish a sustainable, consistent and quality production of food security for both Malaysia and Qatar.
"This initiative will respond to the need to increase bilateral trade and investment cooperation between both countries...it is in line with the aspiration of the Malaysian Prime Minister (Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad ) from his recent visit to Qatar last month," he said.
Also present were UMP's Board of Director's Chairman Datuk Seri Ibrahim Ahmad, Qatari ambassador to Malaysia Fahad Mohammed Kafoud and National Governance, Integrity and Anti-Corruption Centre (GIACC) director-general Tan Sri Abu Kassim Mohamed.
UMP is an established and competency-based technical university that specialises in the fields of engineering and technology, and it continues to further enhance and strengthen its international ties.
The university has taken various initiatives to add to its educational excellence and has entered into various collaborative arrangements with respectable parties to enrich its academic and research activities.