Saturday, May 26, 2012
We can never go wrong if we invest in agriculture
You can never go wrong when you invest in food. Human civilization
started with agriculture and it should stay that way.
http://thestar.com.my/education/story.asp?file=/2012/5/27/education/
11353842&sec=education
Saturday, March 17, 2012
Stop CRUELTY to trees n plants
BELAI pohon dan tumbuhan, bukan ditebang sesuka hati...
Hentikan kekejaman kepada pohon dan tanaman. Tuhan menyemai pokok kerana ia: payung daripada panas dan hujan, penyerap habuk, pelindung tanah, pengindah pemandangan, dinding kepada tsunami, pembekal buah-bunga-makanan-sirat-ubat-wangi-wangian untuk kita; dan yang paling utama, nadi nyawa iaitu oksijen. Jadikan pohon separuh daripada kewujudan kita, walaupun kita dikelilingi dengan hutan konkrit. Inovasi "Green Walls" ini, bukan setakat tampak indah, tetapi penghayatannya lebih dalam daripada dinding tipis yang telah dilakar dengan leretan tumbuhan.
Fatimah
Stop CRUELTY to trees n plants
Stop the CRUELTY TO TREES n plants. God planted them for a purpose: umbrella from heat, absorbent of dust, protector of soil, beauties of our landscape, wall to tsunamis, provider of fruits-food-fibre-medicine to mankind, n most of all the, the essence of life, oxygen. Let the trees be part of our existence, even in the concrete jungle that we live in now. This innovative "Green Walls", esthetic as it seems, the appreciation is deeper than the thin "walls" created.
Green walls in the jungle of concretes
http://edition.cnn.com/2012/01/30/world/europe/green-wall-clean-air/index.html
Hentikan kekejaman kepada pohon dan tanaman. Tuhan menyemai pokok kerana ia: payung daripada panas dan hujan, penyerap habuk, pelindung tanah, pengindah pemandangan, dinding kepada tsunami, pembekal buah-bunga-makanan-sirat-ubat-wangi-wangian untuk kita; dan yang paling utama, nadi nyawa iaitu oksijen. Jadikan pohon separuh daripada kewujudan kita, walaupun kita dikelilingi dengan hutan konkrit. Inovasi "Green Walls" ini, bukan setakat tampak indah, tetapi penghayatannya lebih dalam daripada dinding tipis yang telah dilakar dengan leretan tumbuhan.
Fatimah
Stop CRUELTY to trees n plants
Stop the CRUELTY TO TREES n plants. God planted them for a purpose: umbrella from heat, absorbent of dust, protector of soil, beauties of our landscape, wall to tsunamis, provider of fruits-food-fibre-medicine to mankind, n most of all the, the essence of life, oxygen. Let the trees be part of our existence, even in the concrete jungle that we live in now. This innovative "Green Walls", esthetic as it seems, the appreciation is deeper than the thin "walls" created.
Green walls in the jungle of concretes
http://edition.cnn.com/2012/01/30/world/europe/green-wall-clean-air/index.html
Saturday, March 3, 2012
Regenerative agriculture
2012 has finally arrived. What a year 2011 was. World agriculture and food once again were being challenged with more extreme shocks. The shocks came from all dimensions: geo-political shook up (eg Egyptian Spring and its spread to other Middle Eastern countries), extreme weather (floods and typhoon in ASEAN countries), and earthquake/tsunami in Japan and of course the Fukushima nuclear plants explosion. Lurking is the continuing crude oil increase and hence the thirst for biofuel. The EU’s financial crisis is starting to sip in. China continues to dominate demand. If the past is a mirror of the future, will 2012 be more of the same?
Among these shocks, the most unpredictable one is the nature’s calendar. A volcanologist may be able to predict that tectonic plates will move but the exact date and time is beyond their means, let alone the damage it brings. Despite this uncertainty, nature and its resources are the major challenges of agriculture and food. Last decade saw the occurrence of extreme weather changes which according to scientists will remain a norm in the future. The impact of the climate change coupled with unsustainable farming practices have made “sustainability” an urgent agenda. The evidences of reduction in soil and water quality are rampant in areas of intensive chemical fertilizer and input use. Excessive water usage and rapid urbanization are pushing down the water level further. This does not include excessive fishing and felling of forest with minimal concern on their future.
Has Malaysia done enough to weather this climate challenge? No policy can be enough and complete to address this issue. Nevertheless, attempts should be made to minimize impact and a sustainable development for future generation.
In the last two years Malaysia has produced a number of transformation plans, much more than it has ever produced in the last four decades (the major one being The Economic Transformation Plan). As for agriculture, the DAM (Dasar Agro-makanan) document is already out. Like all the previous agricultural policy documents, DAM sets the direction of our agriculture at least in the next 10 years. It recognizes the challenges ahead, structural deficiencies at home and hence the need to improve competitiveness through efficient resource use, innovations and so on.
Sustainability of the sector is central in the policy documents, which is commendable indeed. However, it could have been meaningful if a number of specific strategies are laid down to be impactful. The following instruments worth pursuing. Its simply towards creating a “regenerative agriculture.”
Agricultural production in Malaysia is input intensive and in some sectors (paddy, fisheries) incentives or subsidies are provided to push production. However overuse of pesticides, fertilizers, water, and fuel encourage land degradation. These should be an explicit policy shift towards significantly increasing the efficiency of fertiliser and agro chemical use and their replacement by soil-fertility-enriching (and carbon-absorptive) production methods that rely multi-cropping, integrating crop and livestock production and the use of bio-fertilisers and bio-pesticides. These are the basic ingredients of regenerative agriculture, in that by farming organically, we are regenerating the soil, returning the land to its natural state.
As Malaysia imports most of her fertilizer and agro-chemical used, a drastic reduction of their consumption therefore not only benefits the environment, but also leads to a reduction of the import bill and agricultural production costs.
Food crisis 2008 pointed the neglect on agricultural investment in R&D as the major culprit for little improvement in productivity and hence inability to cope with production gap. The investment in the agriculture in Malaysia sector deserves much more than what was given. Not only higher in value but with more focus towards strategies that yield high impact on improving physical and R&D infrastructure, linkages between farmers, and greater investment into extension, education and services. These are not new ideas but they are still relevant due to years of neglect, in fact much more are needed in view of the severity of the future threat. Savings from the removal of perverse incentives can not only significantly reduce societal burden but rechannel for these productive purposes.
To achieve “regenerative agriculture” requires a paradigm shift in doing things. The old delivery method may no longer effective when the task requires commitment from all dimensions. Coordination between environmental, natural resource, energy and agricultural policies is needed to maintain a consistent set of incentives for adoption of sustainable management system and to facilitate cross-sectoral interactions. A multi-disciplinary and multi-agency support is needed to translate and implement these strategies.
One agenda that has the largest impact on natural resource management is local community empowerment to manage and conserve resources themselves with the support of the local and central authorities. This can be operationalised by collective action through producer organization. Collective action by producer organizations builds research and skill capacity, reduces transaction costs, increases market power and strengthens representation in national and international forums. Most important it strengthens the capacity of local communities in their stewardship of biodiversity, conservation of land, resources, fragile agro-ecological zones. This requires a policy framework around the stewardship of biodiversity at al levels need to be created.
Under this producer organization mode, local communities are the active participants in managing their resources. They can play a very proactive role in facilitating exchange of local knowledge to be integrated with the scientific findings and tools to improve productivity and value added. They may also be instrumental in promoting the de-centralized use of bio- and other renewable energy sources. Malaysia does have a successful story in this regard, ie., fisheries co-management project in Kuala Teriang, Langkawi. A similar model should be replicated in other areas and sectors with modifications.
Large probability that 2013 and beyond will magnify their past. And past is colored with unpredictable and wild weather that are affecting the temperature, water availability, soil condition, harvesting season and so on. Human reckless interventions have merely worsened the situation. There is a spectrum of policy strategies to safeguard the future, but a regenerative agriculture has the most promises.
Among these shocks, the most unpredictable one is the nature’s calendar. A volcanologist may be able to predict that tectonic plates will move but the exact date and time is beyond their means, let alone the damage it brings. Despite this uncertainty, nature and its resources are the major challenges of agriculture and food. Last decade saw the occurrence of extreme weather changes which according to scientists will remain a norm in the future. The impact of the climate change coupled with unsustainable farming practices have made “sustainability” an urgent agenda. The evidences of reduction in soil and water quality are rampant in areas of intensive chemical fertilizer and input use. Excessive water usage and rapid urbanization are pushing down the water level further. This does not include excessive fishing and felling of forest with minimal concern on their future.
Has Malaysia done enough to weather this climate challenge? No policy can be enough and complete to address this issue. Nevertheless, attempts should be made to minimize impact and a sustainable development for future generation.
In the last two years Malaysia has produced a number of transformation plans, much more than it has ever produced in the last four decades (the major one being The Economic Transformation Plan). As for agriculture, the DAM (Dasar Agro-makanan) document is already out. Like all the previous agricultural policy documents, DAM sets the direction of our agriculture at least in the next 10 years. It recognizes the challenges ahead, structural deficiencies at home and hence the need to improve competitiveness through efficient resource use, innovations and so on.
Sustainability of the sector is central in the policy documents, which is commendable indeed. However, it could have been meaningful if a number of specific strategies are laid down to be impactful. The following instruments worth pursuing. Its simply towards creating a “regenerative agriculture.”
Agricultural production in Malaysia is input intensive and in some sectors (paddy, fisheries) incentives or subsidies are provided to push production. However overuse of pesticides, fertilizers, water, and fuel encourage land degradation. These should be an explicit policy shift towards significantly increasing the efficiency of fertiliser and agro chemical use and their replacement by soil-fertility-enriching (and carbon-absorptive) production methods that rely multi-cropping, integrating crop and livestock production and the use of bio-fertilisers and bio-pesticides. These are the basic ingredients of regenerative agriculture, in that by farming organically, we are regenerating the soil, returning the land to its natural state.
As Malaysia imports most of her fertilizer and agro-chemical used, a drastic reduction of their consumption therefore not only benefits the environment, but also leads to a reduction of the import bill and agricultural production costs.
Food crisis 2008 pointed the neglect on agricultural investment in R&D as the major culprit for little improvement in productivity and hence inability to cope with production gap. The investment in the agriculture in Malaysia sector deserves much more than what was given. Not only higher in value but with more focus towards strategies that yield high impact on improving physical and R&D infrastructure, linkages between farmers, and greater investment into extension, education and services. These are not new ideas but they are still relevant due to years of neglect, in fact much more are needed in view of the severity of the future threat. Savings from the removal of perverse incentives can not only significantly reduce societal burden but rechannel for these productive purposes.
To achieve “regenerative agriculture” requires a paradigm shift in doing things. The old delivery method may no longer effective when the task requires commitment from all dimensions. Coordination between environmental, natural resource, energy and agricultural policies is needed to maintain a consistent set of incentives for adoption of sustainable management system and to facilitate cross-sectoral interactions. A multi-disciplinary and multi-agency support is needed to translate and implement these strategies.
One agenda that has the largest impact on natural resource management is local community empowerment to manage and conserve resources themselves with the support of the local and central authorities. This can be operationalised by collective action through producer organization. Collective action by producer organizations builds research and skill capacity, reduces transaction costs, increases market power and strengthens representation in national and international forums. Most important it strengthens the capacity of local communities in their stewardship of biodiversity, conservation of land, resources, fragile agro-ecological zones. This requires a policy framework around the stewardship of biodiversity at al levels need to be created.
Under this producer organization mode, local communities are the active participants in managing their resources. They can play a very proactive role in facilitating exchange of local knowledge to be integrated with the scientific findings and tools to improve productivity and value added. They may also be instrumental in promoting the de-centralized use of bio- and other renewable energy sources. Malaysia does have a successful story in this regard, ie., fisheries co-management project in Kuala Teriang, Langkawi. A similar model should be replicated in other areas and sectors with modifications.
Large probability that 2013 and beyond will magnify their past. And past is colored with unpredictable and wild weather that are affecting the temperature, water availability, soil condition, harvesting season and so on. Human reckless interventions have merely worsened the situation. There is a spectrum of policy strategies to safeguard the future, but a regenerative agriculture has the most promises.
Saturday, February 11, 2012
Univ. Malaya: Misjudged Temporal Comparison
A no brainer answer to allegation that UM was at low ebb even decades ago.
Divani
http://taknakghauth.wordpress.com/2012/02/04/alumni-um-tersinggung-kenyataan-naib-canselor/
08/02/2012 at 1:01 pm
Ghauth is either naive and/or stupid. His statement about UM was never any good in particular during Ungku Aziz as a VC merely manifests his inability to articulate let alone arguing as an academician or a professor worse still as a VC. His statement of degrading UM for its past reveals two major errors in his reasoning.
(i) Shallow definition of impact. Publication of ISI journal is no panacea to social problem or economic development which Malaysia desperately chasing after. Impact of ISI publications are limited – mainly in terms of number of citations. Lately – due to demands of this publications, thousands of fake articles have been published by local academics in the west to improve ranking. Unlike before, most of these papers are void of societal concerns. They are churned out purely for numbers’ sake. Very unlikely that these fake papers produce impact on societal improvements.
But, through his research Ungku Azis has revolutionised the savings of the poor to become capital investment to plough back to the rural economy to extricate them out of poverty. His concept of Tabung Haji is one of its kind in the world and it has contributed to a more organised “haj” industry. The tabung helped the poor to perform the haj without becoming poorer after sacrificing their lands or assets to the money lenders to finance the trip. His contribution is beyond billion ringgits worth, but creating an equitable development for the country and bringing the poor into the mainstream of economic activities. Had it not for him, the poor will remain impoverished and victimised by the moneylenders with exorbitant rate of interest. We have not taken into account the multiplier effect of his innovation to the economy.
(ii) Inability to make an intelligent temporal comparison. One is shallow if one uses the standard in the C21st to measure the performance in the 1950s. We cannot say the professors in the 1950s were slow in calculating the coefficients in the regression analysis compared to now. Simply because the technology was not available then. Similarly, he cannot use the ISI criteria on professors in the 1950s as then, they were busy laying the foundation for the future of academic in the country. Steve Jobs did not have ISI publications but he changed the world. So are other great men in human history; Ghandi, Rumi and others. Temporal comparison should take into account the variables in the era that one chooses. Period.
What a blunder.
Divani
http://taknakghauth.wordpress.com/2012/02/04/alumni-um-tersinggung-kenyataan-naib-canselor/
08/02/2012 at 1:01 pm
Ghauth is either naive and/or stupid. His statement about UM was never any good in particular during Ungku Aziz as a VC merely manifests his inability to articulate let alone arguing as an academician or a professor worse still as a VC. His statement of degrading UM for its past reveals two major errors in his reasoning.
(i) Shallow definition of impact. Publication of ISI journal is no panacea to social problem or economic development which Malaysia desperately chasing after. Impact of ISI publications are limited – mainly in terms of number of citations. Lately – due to demands of this publications, thousands of fake articles have been published by local academics in the west to improve ranking. Unlike before, most of these papers are void of societal concerns. They are churned out purely for numbers’ sake. Very unlikely that these fake papers produce impact on societal improvements.
But, through his research Ungku Azis has revolutionised the savings of the poor to become capital investment to plough back to the rural economy to extricate them out of poverty. His concept of Tabung Haji is one of its kind in the world and it has contributed to a more organised “haj” industry. The tabung helped the poor to perform the haj without becoming poorer after sacrificing their lands or assets to the money lenders to finance the trip. His contribution is beyond billion ringgits worth, but creating an equitable development for the country and bringing the poor into the mainstream of economic activities. Had it not for him, the poor will remain impoverished and victimised by the moneylenders with exorbitant rate of interest. We have not taken into account the multiplier effect of his innovation to the economy.
(ii) Inability to make an intelligent temporal comparison. One is shallow if one uses the standard in the C21st to measure the performance in the 1950s. We cannot say the professors in the 1950s were slow in calculating the coefficients in the regression analysis compared to now. Simply because the technology was not available then. Similarly, he cannot use the ISI criteria on professors in the 1950s as then, they were busy laying the foundation for the future of academic in the country. Steve Jobs did not have ISI publications but he changed the world. So are other great men in human history; Ghandi, Rumi and others. Temporal comparison should take into account the variables in the era that one chooses. Period.
What a blunder.
Friday, February 3, 2012
Minut-init again
http://minutspaceinit.blogspot.com/
http://test.juiceonline.com/venues/minut-init-studio-galleria/
Young art at work.Let their minds, heart n soul explore the beauty of the Creation inside out,black n white and all its spectrum and grandeur. Within, we hope they'll find the inner force that may pacify greeds and insanity that destroy kindness n purity to its core. Well done Minut-init: Nominated as "Best art venue,2011" by Juice.
http://test.juiceonline.com/venues/minut-init-studio-galleria/
Young art at work.Let their minds, heart n soul explore the beauty of the Creation inside out,black n white and all its spectrum and grandeur. Within, we hope they'll find the inner force that may pacify greeds and insanity that destroy kindness n purity to its core. Well done Minut-init: Nominated as "Best art venue,2011" by Juice.
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