Research, Development and Commercialisation of Agriculturally Important Microorganisms in Malaysia
Agriculture is considered as one of the most important economic sector in Malaysia. Intensive agriculture in Malaysia is highly based on usage of agricultural inputs such as fertilisers and pesticides. Both the agriculture and plantation sectors are opera
- PDF / 266,988 Bytes
- 18 Pages / 439.37 x 666.14 pts Page_size
- 78 Downloads / 202 Views
Research, Development and Commercialisation of Agriculturally Important Microorganisms in Malaysia Ganisan Krishnen, Mohamad Roff Mohd. Noor, Alicia Jack, and Sharif Haron
Abstract
Agriculture is considered as one of the most important economic sector in Malaysia. Intensive agriculture in Malaysia is highly based on usage of agricultural inputs such as fertilisers and pesticides. Both the agriculture and plantation sectors are operated by using imported fertilisers and pesticides. An injudicious usage of these two inputs in agricultural sectors has created many environmental and health issues. A possible solution to avoid this fertiliser and pesticide crisis may rest with groups of microorganisms that have the capacity to provide the nutrients needed and protection against pests for crops. These beneficial microorganism-based products are known as biofertilisers and biopesticide. The current chapter discusses the research, development and commercialisation of agriculturally important microorganisms in Malaysia. Keywords
Biofertilisers • Biopesticides • Pesticides • Agriculturally important microorganisms
G. Krishnen (*) Crop and Soil Science Research Centre, MARDI Head Quarters, 43400 Serdang, Selangor, Malaysia e-mail: [email protected] M.R.M. Noor • A. Jack • S. Haron Director General Office, MARDI Head Quarters, 43400 Serdang, Selangor, Malaysia © Springer Science+Business Media Singapore 2016 H.B. Singh et al. (eds.), Agriculturally Important Microorganisms, DOI 10.1007/978-981-10-2576-1_9
149
150
9.1
G. Krishnen et al.
Agriculture in Malaysia: Current Status in Fertiliser and Pesticide Usage
Agriculture is considered as one of the most important economic sector in Malaysia. With 5.6 m ha of cultivated area in 2012, this industry plays an important role in ensuring food security, generating export revenue, creating agro-based industries and generating millions of job opportunities for Malaysian (DOA 2015). Realising the importance of this sector, through its Economic Transformation Programme, the Malaysian Government recognised agriculture and plantation sectors as country’s National Key Economic Area (NKEA). NKEA is defined as an important driver of economic activities that potentially and directly contributes towards Malaysia’s economic growth measureable by the gross national income (GNI) indicator (Pemandu 2011). Intensive agriculture in Malaysia is highly based on the usage of agricultural inputs such as fertilisers and pesticides. Both the agriculture and plantation sectors are operated by using imported fertilisers and pesticides. In 2013, the amount of fertiliser and pesticide imported were 3.95 million and 122,885 tonnes, respectively (DOA 2016; FAO 2016). The biggest portion of the production cost on agricultural and plantation crops goes to fertiliser and pesticide purchase. Since these agroinputs are imported, the fluctuating US dollar exchange value will burden both the sectors and increases the production cost. Reduction in production and threat of war in the main oil-producing regio
Data Loading...
