KUCHING: Universiti Teknologi Mara (UiTM) Sarawak will collaborate with a Korean company to plant summer strawberries for research purposes.
According to the university’s rector Prof Datuk Dr Jamil Hamali, smart farming technology will be used to plant the strawberries.
“The project will commence this year and we will invest in the cooling temperature control while the firm will provide the seeds.
“The strawberries will be planted in our greenhouse. We have met representatives of the Korean company twice and they will bring the seeds to the next meeting,” he disclosed during the Pluck and Pack Rambutan Programme at UiTM Samarahan Branch here yesterday.
Jamil added the strawberries would become part of the local products for export as well as for the consumption of Malaysians.
“Since imported strawberries are quite expensive here, there will be a market for us in the future. This is not the first strawberry planting project but in terms of research, it is the first of its kind,
“In Korea, they plant the strawberries in summer when the weather is quite similar to ours. Therefore, they have come to us and offered to collaborate with us and we accept the challenge,” he added.
Apart from the strawberry project, the Korean company will also be exposed to the golfing activity in the UiTM Sport Science Faculty.
“Coincidentally these Koreans have an interest in golf so they plan to go golfing while doing this project.”
Jamil also revealed that UiTM Sarawak was advocating a farming and herbal programme in Mukah with the objective of developing the food and pharmaceutical industries.
“We want to produce players in the pharmaceutical industry and export the herb extracts so we are targeting the top 10 pharmaceutical companies in the world.
“We want to know what herb extracts can be exported. Then we can train our students to plant the herbs and produce the extracts so that they will become players in pharmaceutical industry,” he explained.
Jamil also revealed that the university would initiate a collaboration with the halal industry in Tokyo by producing halal food.
“Our students have just returned from a halal exhibition in Tokyo and we are thinking of producing halal food for the world, especially Muslim nations,” said Jamil.
