KUCHING: More than 10,000 indigenous plants and crops have been recorded by the Sarawak Biodiversity Centre (SBC) which remain at the recording stage, said Minister for Education, Science and Technological Research Dato Sri Michael Manyin Jawong.
“With your knowledge and expertise during this conference, delegates can work together with SBC because there are medicinal values as well as food values from the indigenous crops in Sarawak,” he explained.
He added that Dabai was an indigenous crop as people had little knowledge of it in the past.
“Dabai in the past was a crop like olive. In the 1990s, the price of Dabai per kilogramme is RM3 but now it is sold at RM30 per kilogramme. This is because people believe that there is medicinal value, very tasty and appetising,” he said during the 1st International Scientific Conference on Indigenous Crops (ISCIC) 2018 at Hilton Hotel here yesterday.
Manyin also hoped that through the conference, the medicinal values of indigenous crops as well as potential of crop commercialisation could be discovered.
“Sarawak through the Ministry of Agriculture would like to be self-sufficient by the year 2030 or 2035.
“We hope we can work together with the ministry and be able to popularise the indigenous crops as we also need empirical evidence on the potential values of the crops. Research will be able to prove the crops are suitable for consumption which would instil confidence among the people and buy the products,” he said.
Meanwhile, the Director of Universiti Putra Malaysia (UPM) Bintulu Sarawak Campus, Professor Dr Bujang Kim Huat said that the conference themed ‘Potential Indigenous Plants for Commercialisation’ aimed to highlight indigenous plants that can be grown and harvested for profit and subsistence.
“The conference also aimed to provide a platform for all stakeholders to share their knowledge concerning indigenous crops and promote linkages among stakeholders thus encouraging the development of indigenous crops,” he said.
Also present at the launching were the Dean of Faculty of Agriculture and Food Sciences at UPM Bintulu Sarawak Campus, Associate Professor Dr Shahrul Razid Sarbini, Head of Research for Tropical Forest Ecosystem Sciences at UPM Bintulu Sarawak Campus, Associate Professor Dr Patricia King Jie Hung, and Assistant Minister for Education and Technological Research, Dr Annuar Rapaee.
