Vol 33 BEM Mar07-May07 (Agriculture)

LEMBAGA JURUTERA MALAYSIA
BOARD OF ENGINEERS MALAYSIA
KDN PP11720/1/2007 ISSN 0128-4347 VOL.33 MARCH - MAY 2007 RM10.00
AGRICULTURE
BEM3cover.indd 1 3/28/07 5:58:00 PM

THE INGENIEUR 1
contents Volume 33 March - May 2007
2 President’s Message
Editor’s Note
4 Announcement
Heartiest Congratulations
Winner of IstructE Supreme Award For 22
Engineering Excellence 2006
Publication Calendar
Highway Capacity Manual Malaysia
Cover Feature
6 The New Agriculture: Charting
Growth In The Agro-Food Sector
11 Biotech Crops: The Next Revolution In Agriculture 32
15 Opportunities For Engineers In The Malaysian

Agro-Food Industry
19 Edible Bird’s Nest: Swiftlet Farming In

Specially-Designed Buildings
23 Smart Farming Technology Research For

New Agriculture
50
Special Report
30 Design And Construction Of Sungai Perai Bridge,
Butterworth, Penang
36 The Highland Towers Case Against

Ir. Wong Yuen Kean
Engineering & Law

37 Demystifying Direct Loss And Expense Claims
52
Feature
46 Development of Automation Technology
For The Malaysian Agricultural Sector
Engineering Nostalgia
56 Kuala Kangsar
Contents.indd 1 3/28/07 6:21:40 PM

2 THE INGENIEUR
President’s Message
KDN PP11720/1/2007
ISSN 0128-4347
There is a big potential to develop the agro-food

Vol. 33 March - May 2007 sector and agro-based food industries in Malaysia
as an important source of economic growth. The
MEMBERS OF THE BOARD OF ENGINEERS MALAYSIA
(BEM) 2006/2007 realisation of this potential depends on local
entrepreneurs and investors playing a pivotal role to
President
YBhg. Dato’ Sri Prof. Ir. Dr. Wahid bin Omar develop the laggard sector.
Registrar Our economy is now too dependent on the
Ir. Dr. Mohd Johari Md. Arif manufacturing sector, and it should diversify to balance the growth
Secretary between urban and rural areas. Spearhead by our Hon. Prime
YBhg. Dato’ Ir. Dr. Judin Abdul Karim Minister, YAB Datuk Seri Abdullah Hj Ahmad Badawi, the successful
Members development of the agro-food sector will help to improve the social
YBhg. Tan Sri Dato’ Ir. Md Radzi Mansor
YBhg. Datuk Ir. Hj. Keizrul Abdullah economic position of the rural areas. With the concerted effort by
YBhg. Mej. Jen. Dato’ Ir. Ismail Samion Government, there is hope that agro-based industries will transform
YBhg. Dato’ Ir. Shanthakumar Sivasubramaniam
YBhg. Datu Ir. Hubert Thian Chong Hui into big businesses. There is no doubt that engineers of all disciplines
YBhg. Dato’ Ir. Prof. Chuah Hean Teik
Ar. Dr. Amer Hamzah Mohd Yunus
can exploit the opportunities to develop this sector.
Ir. Henry E Chelvanayagam In this issue, I would like to take the opportunity to congratulate
Ir. Dr. Shamsuddin Ab Latif
Ir. Prof. Dr. Ruslan Hassan JKR Malaysia on their achievement in winning the IStructE Engineering
Ir. Mohd. Rousdin Hassan Excellence Award 2006 for the successful completion of the
Ir. Prof. Dr. Hassan Basri
Tn Hj. Basar bin Juraimi Sungai Perai Bridge (a landmark structure for the 21st century). This
Ir. Ishak Abdul Rahman
Ir. Anjin Hj. Ajik commendable recognition would not have been possible without the
Ir. P E Chong combined effort of JKR and the team of consultants, contractors and
EDITORIAL BOARD specialist contractors.
Advisor
YBhg. Dato’ Prof. Ir. Dr. Wahid bin Omar
Chairman
YBhg Datuk Ir. Shanthakumar Sivasubramaniam
Editor Dato’ Sri Prof. Ir. Dr. Wahid bin Omar

Ir. Fong Tian Yong
President
Members BOARD OF ENGINEERS MALAYSIA
Ir. Prem Kumar
Ir. Mustaza Salim
Ir. Chan Boon Teik
Ir. Ishak Abdul Rahman
Ir. Prof. Dr. K. S. Kannan
Ir. Prof. Dr. Ruslan Hassan
Ir. Prof. Madya Dr. Eric K H Goh
Ir. Nitchiananthan Balasubramaniam
Editor’s Note
I
Executive Director
Ir. Ashari Mohd Yakub Acknowledging the importance of agriculture as
Publication Offi cer
the third engine of growth for the national economy,
Pn. Nik Kamaliah Nik Abdul Rahman we dedicate this issue of the publication to Agriculture.
Assistant Publication Offi cer Opportunities for engineers in this area are enormous
Pn. Che Asiah Mohamad Ali considering the generous budget allocated for agricultural
Design and Production development under the Ninth Malaysia Plan.
Inforeach Communications Sdn Bhd
Engineers are involved in the whole supply chain of agricultural
The Ingenieur is published by the Board of Engineers development such as land preparation, crop production, harvesting,
Malaysia (Lembaga Jurutera Malaysia) and is distributed
free of charge to registered Professional Engineers. processing, packaging, storage and marketing. The overall perspective
The statements and opinions expressed in this
is briefly narrated in the article on ‘Opportunities for Engineers in the
publication are those of the writers. Malaysian Agro-Food Industry’ by the Department of Agriculture. For
BEM invites all registered engineers to contribute articles or those wishing to venture into biotech, a new area of growth, the article
send their views and comments to the following address: on ‘Biotech Crops: The Next Revolution in Agriculture’ should provide
Publication Committee sufficient information to ponder over.
Lembaga Jurutera Malaysia,
Tingkat 17, Ibu Pejabat JKR,
We thank contributors for their support.
Jalan Sultan Salahuddin, Meanwhile, we urge readers to the next issue of The Ingenieur
50580 Kuala Lumpur.
Tel: 03-2698 0590 Fax: 03-2692 5017 which focuses on ‘Waste’.
E-mail: bem1@streamyx.com publication@bem.org.my
Web site: http://www.bem.org.my
Ir. Fong Tian Yong
Advertising/Subscriptions
Advertisement Form is on page 55 Editor
Message.indd 1 4/9/07 11:28:31 AM

4 ANNOUNCEMENT THE INGENIEUR
Winner of The IStructE Supreme

Award for Engineering Excellence
For Transportation Structures
To Year 2006
Tan Sri Dato’ Ir. Hj. Zaini bin Omar SUNGAI PERAI BRIDGE,
PENANG, MALAYSIA
for his appointment as the “Sungai Perai Bridge is a superb example of
bridge engineering at its most
First Chairman of effective and imaginative – a landmark structure
National Water Services Commission for the 21st century”
(Suruhanjaya Perkhidmatan Air Negara)
The IStructE Award for Transportation Structures and
this year’s (2006) Supreme Award winner is the 1.85km
Lieutenant General Dato’ Ir. Ismail bin Samion long Sungai Perai Bridge, which carries part of the Outer
Ring Road to Butterworth on the west coast of Peninsular
for his appointment as the Malaysia.
The structure is an eye-catching design both from a
First Vice-Chancellor of distance and close up where the textured finish and sharp
Universiti Pertahanan Malaysia (UPNM) lines of the precast concrete construction demonstrate
exquisite attention to detail. The bridge has beautiful form
– there are the subtle shapes of the main pylons and the piers;
Ir. Prof. Dr. K S Kannan the curved deck soffit is carried through seamlessly from
the main span and into the approaches and ramps beyond.
for being conferred as The structure features a landmark 185m long cable-stayed
main span, providing 28m vertical navigable clearance, and
Fellow of ASHRAE includes an interchange, two sets of bifurcations and three
ramps. Approach spans are typically 50m each in length.
Despite the challenging geometry and the bifurcations,
the structure is constructed entirely of precast segmental
from concrete units. The use of precast concrete improved quality
The President, and enabled the structure to be built above busy roads,
Board Members, Management & Staff railways and shipping lanes economically, safely and without
Board of Engineers Malaysia restrictions to traffic below.
Sungai Perai Bridge is a superb example of bridge
engineering at its most effective and imaginative – a landmark
structure for the 21st century.
Source: www.istructe.org
The Institution of Structural Engineers
PROJECT CREDITS
Client :
The following list is the Jabatan Kerja Raya, Malaysia
Publication Calendar for Structural Designer : Sub Contractor :

Dar Al-Handasah Consultants JM
the year 2007. While we Zublin
Contractor :
normally seek contributions Lingkaran Luar Butterworth Specialised Contractor :
from experts for each special (Penang) Sdn Bhd Freyssinet PSC – Freyssinet
theme, we are also pleased APTO
to accept articles relevant to

Editor’s Note: Please read the Special Report on
themes listed. the Sungai Perai Bridge on page 30
Please contact the Editor

or the Publication Offi cer in HIGHWAY CAPACITY MANUAL MALAYSIA
advance if you would like to
Publisher : Highway Planning Unit, Ministry of Works
make such contributions or to with the co-operation of Civil Engineering Study Centre, USM
discuss details and deadlines.
Price : RM280 per copy
June 2007: WASTE Available At : Cawangan Pengurusan & Perolehan Harta,

September 2007: POWER Bahagian Kewangan, Tingkat Bawah, Blok A, Jalan Sultan Salahuddin,
50580 Kuala Lumpur
Annc&PubCal(4).indd 1 3/30/07 12:15:12 PM

6 COVER FEATURE THE INGENIEUR
The New Agriculture:

Charting Growth In
The Agro-Food Sector
By Wee Beng Ee, Deputy Undersecretary, Strategic Planning & International Division,
Ministry of Agriculture & Agro-Based Industry
T
he development of the This new approach will be the driver small and medium sized enterprises
agro-food sector and its to bring about a revolution in the (SMEs). In the agriculture sector, the
concomitant agro-based agro-food sector that will generate development of agro-based food
industries are touted as an important more value-added growth as well industries is vital to the overall
source of economic growth. The as transform our nation into a centre growth of the agro-food sub-sector.
aim is to diversify our economic for agro-based industries and halal Agro-based food industries are
base which is too dependent on hub. During the Ninth Malaysia defined as industries that add value
the manufacturing sector as the Plan (2006-2010), the overall to agricultural raw food materials,
engine of growth. Secondly, it is value-added for the agriculture through downstream processing
to diversify the income generating sector is projected to achieve an into marketable, usable or edible
activities among the farmers from annual growth of 5%. Out of this, products, while enhancing the
higher value-added downstream the agro-food sector is projected income and profitability of the
processing. Thirdly, it is to develop a to contribute an annual growth of producers. The value-added annual
balanced growth between the urban 7.6% compared to industrial crops’ growth for downstream processing
and rural areas as well as between projected annual growth of 3.2%. and agro-based food industries is
states and regions. The greater weightage accorded projected to be 5.7% during the
The successful implementation to agro-food sector reflects a Ninth Malaysia Plan.
of this transformation of the recognition that there is untapped The creation of growth and
agro-food sector will help to potential that is not yet fully wealth in the agro-food sector
complete the unfinished agenda exploited, and the unprecedented lies in high value-added activities
of eradicating poverty in the rural move to focus on this laggard sector comprising downstream processing
areas. The Agriculture Census 2005 will seek to live up to its potential. and agro-food. Currently, about
showed that there were about The ultimate quest of new 80% of the agro-food produce in
820,000 agriculture operators agriculture is industrialisation of Malaysia is sold as fresh produce
in Malaysia. These agriculture the agro-food sector. In the long and only 20% is processed into
operators constituted 8% of the run, it entails the re-organisation higher value-added products. There
total workforce in our nation. of the agriculture food sub-sector is a strategic intent to rectify this lop-
Agricultural activities are mainly in into a entrepreneurial driven sided ratio and the development
the rural areas and the bulk of the and commercially viable entity. of agro-based food industries is to
hardcore poor are located in this New agriculture aims to develop address this imbalance. It is closely
rural-based sector. According to the more large-scale commercial linked to the halal hub development
Households’ Survey 2004, about production that has greater usage as it will give Malaysia a niche
79% of the 36,500 households and wider application of state- market to exploit.
identified as hardcore poor were in of-the-art technology to enhance The present and future agro-
rural areas. productivity. It will focus on the based food industries should not
production of quality and high be contented to become merely
NEW AGRICULTURE value-added agriculture produce suppliers of raw materials or semi
and downstream processing. finished produce to other companies
This change is spearheaded by One of the key drivers for any or multinational corporations. Rather
our Rt. Hon. Prime Minister’s vision nation to develop and sustain its they should have a strategic intent
of new agricultural development. industrial base is the development of to become producers of finished
CF.NewAgriculture 6-10.indd 1 3/29/07 5:29:09 PM

THE INGENIEUR COVER FEATURE 7
products themselves or move up the Biotechnology Policy and the and the relatively smaller and less
supply chain. According to Michael identification of agro-biotechnology commercial agro-food sub sector. As
Porter, a firm or an industry can as one of the three core areas to be a result of the uneven development
derive competitive advantage by developed opens new opportunities between the industrial and agro-
managing and exploiting its value for investment to spawn new food sub-sector, about 83% of
chain. A value chain is a series of industries. Agriculture holds agriculture land is cultivated with
value-added activities undertaken major potential for biotechnology industrial crops such as rubber,
by an enterprise, industry or sector. applications. palm-oil and cocoa and only 17%
These value-added activities or 1.07 million hectares are for
encompass the following stages: A TALE OF TWO CROPS the agro-food sector. In 2005, the
industrial crops’ contribution to
l pre-production stage such as Critics may question why we Gross Domestic Product (GDP) was
research and development, need to rejuvenate the agro-food 5.23% while the agro-food sector’s
design and prototyping and sector that has long been considered share was only 3%.
product development a sunset industry. It is incorrect to
l assembly and production stage say the agro-food sector is a sunset SOURCES OF GROWTH
l post-production stage such as industry. The truth is that it was
branding, packaging, marketing, never really given the opportunity The agro-food sector in Malaysia
logistics and distribution. to develop to its full potential. It has comparative advantage in the
is a laggard sector due to uneven cultivation of tropical fruits and
The pre and post-production development between the agro-food production of poultry, pork and eggs.
activities are high in value-added and industrial crops. Compared to But food security and increasingly
while the assembling and production plantation crops which form the import bills on food incurred by our
are low value-added activities. High major component of our agriculture nation coupled with the strategic
value-added activities comprise exports, the agro-food sector is not need to ensure enough food supply
the use of advanced technology, yet fully developed and therefore means that we need to be involved
research and development (R&D) has immense potential as a source of in the production of rice, vegetables,
and knowledge-based and skilled growth and creation of wealth that mutton and beef. As such, the
workers produce high-end products can be realized if we can transform traditional sub-sector comprising
which are sold to high-end markets. and develop it as a modern and fishery, livestock and horticulture
In the value chain, simple assembly commercial entity. which may not have comparative
or production involves activities The story of the agriculture advantage will be continued as the
which generate low returns development in Malaysia is a tale major agro-food activities to order
or benefits to the company. A of two crops. Within the agriculture to comply with food security issue.
company can add more value and sector, there exist two distinct sub- The Ninth Malaysia Plan (2006-
benefits to its business operations sectors, the industrial crops sector 2010) has identified the strategic
by expanding its activities along the dominated by palm oil and rubber areas or activities which will be
value chain i.e. either moving into
pre-production activities such as
R & D and product design or into
post-production activities which
include distribution and marketing
as well as services.
Lastly, the new agriculture will
also unlock the potential of agro-
biotechnology to increase yield
of the production of horticulture,
fishery and livestock, and spawn
new industries on functional
food and speciality products.
The agro-biotechnology is the
emerging industry of the future,
and its development is undertaken
under the purview of the National
Biotechnology Policy.��
The recent
launching of our National Fruit farm

worth RM2 billion. Malaysia’s

��
tuna industry is still small and the
bulk of the resources are located
in East Malaysia. Off-shore tuna
resources in Sarawak and Sabah
are estimated to be 70,000 metric
tonnes per annum but the current
catch of 3,400 metric tonnes is
only a small fraction of the huge
potential yield. �
Agro-based Food Industries

The Industrial Master Plan
has outlined the development of
agro-based industries comprising
Commercial fishing products processed from fish, meat,
fruits and vegetables. Its growth
major drivers of growth such as beef of aquaculture is 600,000 metric is still small compared to the
production, aquaculture and deep tonnes with a value of RM5.8 manufacturing and resource-based
sea fishing and tuna, downstream billion by the year 2010. The first industries spearheaded by palm
processing, halal food hub and AIZ at Sungai Como, Terengganu oil and palm oil products, wood
agro-biotechnology. was launched on January 30, 2007 and wood-based products and
by Rt. Hon. Prime Minister. rubber and rubber-based products.
Beef Production The deep-sea and tuna According to the Annual Survey
So far we have achieved self- fishing sub-sector is relatively of Manufacturing Industries 2003,
sufficiency levels for poultry, pork and underdeveloped. The construction there were 2,335 establishments
eggs but domestic beef production of an integrated deep-sea port involved in food processing
is still low with self-sufficiency at in Tanjong Manis, Sarawak and industry. Out of this, only 720
20% while mutton production has a Batu Maung, Penang as well as establishments were involved in
lower self-sufficiency of 8.0%. The the proposed establishment of the agro-food manufacturing operations
shortage is currently met by imports National Fisheries Consortium will as shown in Table 1.
primarily from India, Australia and be the catalyst to develop this sub- The Ministry of Agriculture and
New Zealand. There is a need sector. Deep-sea and tuna fishing Agro-based Industry is entrusted
to increase our local beef and is projected to generate a total to develop agro-based industries
mutton production to further stem catch of 500,000 metric tonnes in rural areas across our country.
the outflows of foreign exchange
and reduce the imports bill. The
Department of Veterinary has Table 1: Profile of major food processing industry, 2003
formulated an ambitious programme TABLE 1: PROFILE OF MAJOR FOOD PROCESSING INDUSTRY, 2003
to increase meat production and we GROSS VALUE-
AGRO-FOOD NO. OF
OUTPUT ADDED EMPLOYMENT
hope to achieve a self-sufficiency SUBSECTOR ESTABLISHMENTS
(RM Mil) (RM Mil)
level of 28% by 2010, and Processing and
preserving of poultry 12 733.2 144.4 2,491
subsequently 40% by 2015. The and poultry products
programme to be spearheaded by Production,
processing &
National Feedlot Centre located in preserving of other 42 648.9 109.5 3,569
Gemas in the middle of 2007. meat and meat
products
Processing and
Fisheries preserving of fish and 131 1,447.3 320.7 8,879
fish products
As coastal marine resources Canning and
are getting scarce due to over- preserving of fruits
54 271.0 67.6 1,919
and vegetables
exploitation, the future growth of the (including pineapples)
fisheries sub-sector will depend on Manufacture of dairy
41 2,185.3 563.2 4,109
products
aquaculture and deep-sea fishing Manufacture of other
440 3,807.5 1,238.5 15,763
as well as tuna fishing. Under food products*
TOTAL 720 9,093.2 2,443.9 36,730
our Aquaculture Industry Zone
*Include sugar, ice, nuts and nut products, snacks and crackers and chips
(AIZ), the projected production Source: Annual Survey of Manufacturing Industries, 2003, Department Of Statistics

halal food parks to ensure the

maximum utilization of resources
and technology.
Agro-biotechnology
Genetic engineering can be used
to make conventional breeding
more efficient through the use of
DNA market technology, while
information of an organism’s genetic
material provided by genomics will
help develop crop plants more
suited to our local environment.
Imagine MARDI developing a new
padi strain that will use less water
and pesticide but producing more
yield per hectare!
Commercial poultry farm
What we have achieved so far is Handling And Storage Of Halal

the development of cottage agro- Foods”. This MS1500 standards
based industries. There are many will further strengthen JAKIM’s
small-scale downstream processing halal certification. Fourthly, as a
activities that are undertaken by member and currently holding the
small farmers and the products are chairmanship of the Organisation
keropok lekor or fish ball, chilly or of the Islamic Conference, Malaysia
rojak sauce, cordial drinks, a variety is working closely with other
of noodles, and others. To date, member countries to promote
there are about 1,815 agro-food halal food worldwide. Malaysia
downstream processing involving has the opportunity to establish an Genetic engineering
more than 6,000 farmers. International Halal Food Centre
(IHFC) to enable it to be not only The increasing amount of land
Halal Food Hub the world halal food producer but cultivating genetically modified
It is estimated that the global a centre for marketing, certification crops indicates the huge commercial
market value for halal food trade and reference. success of agro-biotechnology. The
is around RM570 billion. Malaysia The huge potential in halal global area of transgenic crops has
has competitive advantage and a is attracting local investors to increased from 1.7 million hectares
huge potential to develop the halal develop halal food parks. Among in 1996 to 52 million hectares in 2001
food industry and make Malaysia a the areas that have built the relevant and 81 million hectares in 2004. In
halal food hub. Firstly, our nation infrastructure and processing 2006, according to International
is recognized as a truly Islamic facilities to be demarcated as halal Service For The Acquisition Of Agri-
country. Secondly, we have the food production zones are Pulalu biotech Applications (ISAAA), the
raw materials and supporting Indah in Selangor, Pulau Remis in cultivated area increased by 13% to
infrastructure as well as the Perak, Serkam in Malacca, Pedas 102 million hectares. The estimated
processing technology to produce in Negeri Sembilan, Paya Pahlawan global annual value of agro-
and market halal products. Thirdly, in Kedah and Gambang in Pahang. biotechnology reached US$500
the halal certification issued by our In the Ninth Malaysia Plan, an million in 1996 and is projected to
Department of Islamic Development allocation of RM200 million is given grow to US$1.7 trillion by 2010.
Malaysia (JAKIM) is recognised to the State Economic Development In reality, the conventional form
worldwide due to its stringent Corporations in Pahang, Kedah, of biotechnology has been around
criteria and is much sought after by Perlis, Terengganu and Kelantan to for a long time. In fact, we have used
other countries. The Government has further develop the halal food parks. micro-organisms in the fermentation
gazetted the Malaysian Standards I hope that there is coordination process for producing preserved
MS1500 “General Guidelines among States to ensure that there foodstuff such as budu, the exotic
On The Production, Preparation, will be synergy among these fish sauce from Kelantan, tapai,

belacan or tempoyak. What is new food output while traditional farmers into large-scale production and
and generating a lot of interest and produce 40%. The road to increased will not be marginalized in the
business opportunity is the modern production and development of commercialisation of agro-food
biotechnology involving the genetic agro-based food industries lies with sector.
manipulation using micro-organisms the emergence of more commercial To attract private sector
which will completely transform farmers. investment, the Ministry of
living organisms to assume new There is a concerted effort to Agriculture and Agro-based Industry
character and functions. develop more commercial farmers together with the State Governments
from the 90% traditional farmers. On will identify suitable land. The
IN SEARCH OF AGRO- August 17, 2006, the Rt. Hon. Prime land identified will be equipped
ENTREPRENEUERS Minister launched an ambitious with basic infrastructure and the
program to develop 10,000 agro- estimated cost of development to
The Ministry of Agriculture entrepreneurs. It is the fervent hope undertake agro-food activities as
and Agro-based industries has of the Government that towering well as financial projections on the
formulated the agro-food policy agro-entrepreneurs will emerge from returns will be prepared as part of
and charted its future direction. It this newly created 10,000 agro- the information to be given out in
has crafted strategies and will be entrepreneurs to become the catalyst the business prospectus to potential
implementing programmes as well as to transform agro-food sector into a investors and entrepreneurs. Besides
projects to ensure its development. big business. And these towering this, the Government will also look
A pro-business environment is agro-entrepreneurs will provide the into the provision of incentives to
being created to ensure a private- vision and entrepreneurial spirit to help reduce the risks involved in
sector driven growth in the agro- spawn new agro-business enterprises agro-food business.
food sector. But the realisation of that will operate in a global market.
the agro-food policy and its plan The commercialisation of the CONCLUSION
as well as the successful outcome agro-food sector is private-sector
of the programmes and projects driven and this transformation There is a big potential in
will depend on the role of agro- depends on large-scale cultivation, developing the agro-food sector
entrepreneurs. livestock rearing and aquaculture. and agro-based food industries in
Today, there are about 10% The envisioned large-scale Malaysia as an important source
commercial farmers and 90% operation is premised on the of growth. The realisation of this
traditional farmers in the agro- anchor company concept. Under envisaged role of the agro-food
food sector. The traditional farming this concept, a private company based industries depends on the local
of agro-food is dominated by will be the anchor company while entrepreneurs and investors playing
uneconomic-sized farms operated the production will be outsourced a pivotal role to develop the laggard
by smallholders. Such small scaled to farmers who will be producers. sector. We have the comparative
operations usually have high cost of The anchor company’s role is to and competitive advantage as well
production, low output yield and ensure quality production and as Government’s commitment to
poor quality of produce due to low undertake the marketing of produce develop this sector.
rate of technology adoption and in both domestic and international The Government can only provide
mechanisation. The commercial markets. This concept ensures that basic infrastructure, supporting
farmers contribute 60% of the agro- small farmers will be incorporated services and the necessary delivery
system as well as fiscal and non-
fiscal incentives. We need agro-
entrepreneurs to take the lead to
translate opportunities into actual
business enterprises. We also need
them to invest in developing new
technology as this will be the crucial
factor in determining the productivity
and e f f icienc y of agriculture
p r o d u c t io n a n d d o w n s t r e a m
processing. Its success is premised
on the active participation of the
private-sector to spearhead the
growth of agro-based food industries
Fruit trees in Malaysia. BEM

Biotech Crops:
The Next Revolution
In Agriculture
By Mahaletchumy Arujanan, Programme Director, Malaysian Biotechnology Information Centre
A
griculture is the oldest gradual selection, our ancestors met with successive breakthroughs in
industry in the world and chose a very tiny section of the wild scientific research on gene transfer
is also the most important plant community and transformed it methods, identification of valuable
sector. Industrialisation may sound into cultivated crops. Farmers have genes, and the eventual performance
more lucrative, glamorous and always sought to improve crops in of transgenic crops. The term genetic
modern but agriculture can never be a variety of ways to improve the engineering is used to describe the
overlooked as it provides us with our quality of food products in terms process by which the genetic makeup
basic needs for survival. Food, feed, of size, taste, and keeping quality, of an organism can be altered using
and fibre come from agriculture. among others. recombinant DNA technology.
More recently fuel is added to this list Recombinant DNA technology
since the emergence of biofuel. Genetic Engineering involves the use of laboratory tools
Agriculture was never a stagnant In Agriculture to insert, alter, or cut out pieces of
sector. It is a dynamic area that DNA that contain one or more genes
constantly evolves to meet the Approximately two decades of interest. A Genetically Modified
requirements of modern day. First, ago, many agricultural scientists (GM) or transgenic crop is a plant
was the green evolution that took saw the emerging recombinant that contains a gene(s) that has
place between the 1940s and 1960s. DNA technology as a potent tool been artificially inserted, instead of
This transformation occurred as a in enhancing crop productivity acquired through pollination.
result of programmes of agricultural and food quality while promoting Developing plant varieties
research, extension and infrastructure sustainable agriculture. Much of this expressing good agronomic
development. During this period, early excitement and expectation was characteristics is the ultimate
technologies introduced included goal of plant breeders. This was
pesticides, irrigation projects, and initially carried out through classical
synthetic nitrogen fertilizers. This breeding which was done by
transformation led to significant introducing new genetic material
increase in food production. It to the offspring. However, with
created major social and ecological conventional breeding, there is little
impact which drew intense praise as or no guarantee of obtaining any
well as criticism. particular gene combination from
The current revolution in the millions of crosses generated.
a g r i c u l t u r e r e vo l v e s a r o u n d Undesirable genes can be transferred
biotechnology. Crops are being along with desirable genes; or,
altered at a molecular level to develop while one desirable gene is gained,
beneficial traits both to farmers and another is lost because genes of both
consumers. Although this technology parents are mixed together and re-
has drawn intense criticism, a assorted more or less randomly in
number of countries have adopted the offspring. These problems limit
the technology and are benefiting the improvements that plant breeders
from it. It is necessary to realise that can achieve. Another limitation to this
with or without human intervention, technique is that hybrids can only be
crops have been evolving since time produced with the same species or
immemorial. Through a process of Genetically modified maize between closely related species.
CF.BiotechCrops(11-14).indd 1 3/29/07 5:27:12 PM

In contrast, genetic engineering seeds that are fed to the livestock and
allows the direct transfer of one or just poultry animals.
a few genes of interest, between either
closely or distantly related organisms Nutritional Benefits. The nutritional
to obtain the desired traits. Plants profile of a plant could be enhanced
may also be modified by removing through genetic engineering. Vitamin
or switching off their own particular A deficiency causes half a million
genes. children to become partially or totally
GM or transgenic crops are now blind each year. Traditional breeding
more commonly known as biotech methods have been unsuccessful in
crops and this term will be used producing crops containing a high
in this paper. GM technology has vitamin A. Through GM technology,
been used to produce a variety scientists have introduced three new
of crop plants to date, primarily genes into rice – two from daffodils
with “market-led” traits, some of and once from a micro-organism
which have become commercially to produce a strain of rice which
successful. Developments resulting exhibits an increased production
in commercially produced varieties GM papaya of beta-carotene as a precursor to
have centered around herbicide vitamin A. When ingested, the body
tolerance, pest resistance, improved will process this beta-carotene and
yield, and better keeping quality. Pest Resistance. This is a clear release the vitamin A for use in
A brief write-up on the most benefit to farmers as crops are bodily functions.
common traits developed and resistant to attacks from specific Research is also on-going to
c o m m e rc i a l i s e d t h r o u g h G M pest. There are various pests that develop vegetable oils with a healthy
technology is presented here. range from insects to virus. The most lipid profile. The benefits of this
common example is resistance to technology are endless. Peanuts
Herbicide Tolerance. Weeds are insects such as corn borer and cotton could be developed minus the
a constant problem to farmers. bollworm. Scientists have taken the allergens and this would allow those
Farmers often fight weeds with tillage, Bacillus thuringiensis (commonly who are allergic to peanuts to enjoy
hand weeding, herbicides, or a known as Bt gene) responsible for these nutritional nuts.
combination of these techniques. the production of the insecticidal
Unfortunately, these methods have protein from the organism and Crops tolerant to unfavourable
their disadvantages. Tillage often incorporated it in plants. Thus, these conditions. A sizeable portion of
leaves valuable topsoil exposed to plants have in-built mechanism of land mass across the globe, both
wind and water erosion, whereas, protection against targeted pests. coastal as well as terrestrial has
heavy use of herbicides leads to Unlike conventional insecticides, been marginalized because of
groundwater contaminations, death the toxins produced by these crops excessive salinity, alkalinity, acidity,
of several wildlife species and also are highly specific and the crops are and drought. Any technology that
contributes to various human and only resistant to attacks by target can help to achieve a reasonable
animal illnesses. A solution to this pests. Cotton and corn have been level of productivity on these lands
problem is crops that are tolerant developed and are successfully will therefore have a great global
to herbicides. Crops are genetically grown in a number of countries. impact. For example, a salt tolerant
modified to survive exposure to The advantages to these crops gene from mangroves (Avicennia
herbicides. To date, crops have been are improved pest management, marina) has been identified, cloned
developed to tolerate the exposure reduction in the use of insecticides, and transferred to other plants. These
to glyphosate and glufosinate increase in yield, and increase of crops would be tolerant to high salt
herbicides. Soyabean, cotton, maize beneficial organisms as the use of concentration. Similarly, crops are
and canola have been successfully chemical insecticides is significantly tolerant to drought will also be of
commercialised so far with this trait. r e d u c e d . A n o t h e r a dva n t a g e great importance to mankind.
The obvious advantages of experienced by farmers is the lower
herbicide tolerant crops are excellent incidence of fungal attack in corn. Global Trend Of
weed control and hence higher crop The injuries inflicted by corn borers Biotech Crops
yields, reduced numbers of spray also provide a way for plant disease
in a season, flexibility in spraying causing organisms to enter the B i o t e ch c r o p s h av e b e e n
cycles, reduced herbicides residues plant. When this happens, fungi that successfully commercialised and
in the soil, and the ability to use no- produces harmful toxins such as the cultivated for the past one decade
till system. aflatoxin finds it way into the corn globally. The global land area planted

with biotech crops in 2006 reached must be created to encourage the commercialisation efforts. Various
102 million hectares with 10 million commercialisation of this technology. legal framework such as intellectual
farmers growing these crops. Last The policy indicates the establishment property rights, patents, biosafety,
year saw 22 countries planting of centres of excellence in existing and plant variety Acts, among others,
biotech crops. The US is the leader in and new institutions which will carry should be in place and in line with
this area followed by Argentina and out research and commercialisation global standards.
Brazil. The number of biotech crops initiatives. A national institute for
are also on the increase with alfalfa agricultural biotechnology has been Agribiotechnology In Malaysia
as the latest addition to soyabean, established under the Ministry of
maize, canola, cotton, rice, squash Science, Technology and Innovation Agribiotechnology is not a very
and papaya. (MOSTI) to spearhead the research new field for Malaysia. R&D in this
Biotech soyabean was the in agribiotechnology. The policy field has been going on for several
principal biotech crop in 2006, also spelled out the need to develop decades now with many research
occupying 57% of global biotech human capital and various training institutes taking the lead such as
area, followed by maize, cotton programmes will be implemented to the Malaysian Agricultural Research
and canola. Developing countries ensure highly skilled human resource and Development Institute (MARDI),
such as India, China, Latin American is available to fuel this industry. Malaysian Palm Oil Board (MPOB),
countries, the Philippines and Iran B i o t e ch n o l o g y h a s a l o n g Malaysian Rubber Board (MRB),
are fast adopting this technology gestation period before returns can public universities and various
and are commercially cultivating be seen and is highly viewed as a other institutes. Private companies
such crops. risky field to invest. Research in this too are actively involved and have
It is noteworthy that in each field requires large amount of funds. been successful in developing a
continent, there is a country which is Therefore, to encourage scientists and host of new varieties of plants,
leading the way – Argentina in Latin private sector to be actively involved mainly through tissue culture and
America, India in Asia, South Africa in commercialisation of biotech conventional breeding technology.
in Africa, and Romania and Spain products various initiatives and However, research on GM is still
in Europe. mechanisms have been introduced at its infancy and much of this work
The table below summarizes by the Government. has not gone to the field trial level.
the current global status of biotech Th e G o v e r n m e n t i s a l s o There is active research on rice,
crops. committed to create an enabling legal chilly, papaya, pineapple, orchids,
environment to support R&D and palm oil, and rubber, among others.
National Biotechnology Policy
Country Area (million hectares) Biotech Crops
Malaysia was an agricultural
USA 54.6 Soyabean, maize, cotton, canola,
country back in the 1970s but the squash, papaya, alfalfa
manufacturing sector took over in the Argentina 18.0 Soyabean, maize, cotton
1980s. However, the Government Brazil 11.5 Soyabean, cotton
realised the potential of agriculture Canada 6.1 Canola, maize, soyabean
to the nation’s economy and is India 3.8 Cotton
committed to making this sector China 3.5 Cotton
the third engine of growth. This is Paraguay 2.0 Soyabean
clearly evident under the National South Africa 1.4 Maize, soyabean, cotton
Biotechnology Policy which was Uruguay 0.4 Soyabean, maize
launched in 2005 where agriculture Philippines 0.2 Maize
has been identified as the main Australia 0.2 Cotton
thrust. The other priority areas Romania 0.1 Soyabean
include healthcare and industrial Mexico 0.1 Cotton, soyabean
biotechnology. Biotechnology has Spain 0.1 Maize
been clearly identified as an enabling Colombia < 0.1 Cotton
tool to transform the agriculture France < 0.1 Maize
sector to enhance productivity Iran < 0.1 Rice
and ultimately increase farmers’ Honduras < 0.1 Maize
income. Czech Republic < 0.1 Maize
In order for agriculture to gain Portugal < 0.1 Maize
from this technology, research and Germany < 0.1 Maize
Slovakia < 0.1 Maize
development must be encouraged
and a conducive environment Source: Clive James, 2006

The success of this research work developing seeds or that could

will certainly be a boost to the local function as a supplier. Without this
agriculture scene. There is much component, Malaysia will not be
potential in this technology that able to have a complete supply
could be harnessed to transform chain in the agriculture sector
our agriculture sector into a wealth especially if we wish to embrace
creating industry. Research on agribiotechnology.
rice and palm oil is targeted at The other missing piece of the
increasing yield and productivity. puzzle is the co-operation and
This would be a good trait as yield collaboration between various
per hectare could be increased research institutes, universities and
which means more yield from the industries. Groups of scientists are
same land area. known to work among themselves
Work on oil palm is also focused and in most places, research work
on improving the lipid profile. is carried out in isolation just within
Lowering the amount of fats that are the same departments. We must
not good for health and increasing GM soyabean understand the fundamentals of
the good fats will make our palm oil biotechnology. It is not a discipline
healthier. Research on papaya and also important to enhance the image by itself. It is merger between
pineapple is aimed at developing of this sector to entice the younger various fields such as taxonomy,
plants that are resistant to virus generation to get involved and be botany, microbiology, biochemistry,
attack and also on delayed-ripening. part of its workforce. agronomy, pathology, and a whole
These traits are useful as the farmers Mechanising agriculture has been list of other areas. Scientists need
will be able to reduce loss in their going on since the green revolution. to work together in the spirit of
yield. It would also facilitate the Malaysia has also adopted much science and for the nation, and not
export of local fruits as they could from this era and benefited from just to champion their respective
be kept fresh for a longer period various modern technologies. The institutes.
of time. current trend, however, hinges Fi n a l l y, M a l ay s i a n e e d s a
Th e o t h e r a r e a t h a t l o o k s heavily on the biological inventions. balanced biosafety legal framework
lucrative is ornamental plants such Malaysia is still far behind in this that could act as an enabling tool
as orchids. Malaysia is the host area though R&D has been going to promote this sector and the
for a variety of orchids and this on in various aspects of agriculture. industry.
industry could be developed to Research institutes and universities Of late, the buzzword has been
generate revenue for the country. are actively involved in R&D work, ‘biotechnology’ but little do we know
Scientists are currently working but more needs to be done in how to transform our agriculture
on developing exotic colours and order for commercialisation to take using this powerful tool. As a late
also improving the keeping quality place more rapidly. More hybrids entrant, we do not have enough time
of these flowers. There is also and varieties of plants need to to be lax, we need to get on our feet
active research on rubber plants be developed locally to suit our and join the race so that we do not
to improve latex yield and to use climate and cultivation conditions. miss the biotechnology train. BEM
rubber trees as a ‘mini factory’ to Challenges faced by farmers vary
produce therapeutic proteins. These from one country to another. Pests, REFERENCES
on-going research is promising and virus, diseases, and unfavourable
hopefully will be feasible enough to cultivation conditions differ and James, C. ISAAA Brief 35:
be commercialised soon. therefore, not all imported hybrids Global Status of Commercialized
or plant varieties could be cultivated Biotech/GM Crops: 2006
The Way Forward with the same success as in the
country of origin. Thus, there is a ISAAA Pocket K. No. 1:
The agriculture sector is being need to develop our own products Questions and Answers about
revisited and the Government including seed, or at least, a little Genetically Modified Crops
is highly inspired to transform it modification to the product already
ISAAA Pocket K. No. 17:
into a modernised sector which available in the market.
Genetic Engineering and
will be one of the key economic One of the key components that
GM Crops
contributors. This is of paramount is missing in our local agriculture
importance to the nation as our food scene is the seed industry. We do Wikipedia, The Free
import bill is very high and we are not have local seed companies Encyclopedia
far from being self-sufficient. It is in Malaysia that specialize in

Opportunities For
Engineers In The Malaysian
Agro-Food Industry
By Kalaivanan a/l Nadarajah, Senior Assistant Director, Department of Agriculture Malaysia
D
uring a recent call to re- expenditure under the Ninth Malaysia introduction and utilization of
look into the traditional Plan is RM6.96 billion. agriculture engineering technologies,
agro-food sub-sector, the Many professionals are mainly in farm machines, food
Minister of the Agriculture and Agro- intensely exploring opportunities in processing, irrigation and drainage,
based Industries Ministry (KPIAT) biotechnology, high yielding crop sheltered structures and farm
explained why the Government has varieties, high impact fertilizers and infrastructure.
ranked agriculture as the third engine soil improvement. However, local Engineers in MARDI explore all
of growth. Firstly, the issue of food engineers serving in this sector have possibilities in adapting, modifying
security and the increasingly high not been in the forefront to generate or designing appropriate machines
food import bill required a strategy ideas and solve inherent problems and other engineering technologies
to diversify our economic activity to increase both quantity and quality to suit local farm conditions. On the
base to ensure increased production of food produced. In the US, for other hand, engineers in DOA design
in food crops. Secondly, we have to example, agricultural engineers take and construct farm infrastructure
enhance our competitiveness as the credit for modernising the industry including land levelling, water
opening up of our markets through and transposing figures in the ratio source, micro-irrigation and drainage
the implementation of AFTA and of farmers to population where in permanent food parks (TKPM)
WTO will require local producers to currently just 5% provide food for and group farms, besides other
increase their productivity in order the remaining 95% and contribute functions such as mechanisation
to compete in domestic and global to national exports. training and logistical services.
markets. Thirdly, the Agriculture Lastly, engineers in FOA provide
Census 2005 showed that there were Engineers In The Food logistical services in tillage and
no less than 820,000 agriculture Sub Sector rice harvesting to encourage the
operators in Malaysia. These growth and involvement of co-
producers are already competing Although numerous disciplines of operatives as service providers. All
with imports from Thailand and engineers from a multitude of public this involvement of engineers is
China, where labour is cheaper; agencies and private companies have further enriched by the excitement
and imports from Australia where contributed engineering solutions in of researchers and academicians of
advanced production methods and this sub-sector since the 1970s, the all engineering disciplines in public
mechanisation have reduced the cost Department of Agriculture (DOA) universities proposing hundreds
of producing food. and Department of Irrigation and of possible engineering solutions.
Realizing the potential of the Drainage (JPS) take precedence. Civil Meanwhile, engineers in the private
agro-food sub sector, the Ninth engineers in JPS provided irrigation sector are suppliers of machinery,
Malaysia Plan (2006-2010) has and drainage services in rice granaries irrigation system components,
projected the value-added growth while agricultural engineers in DOA sheltered structures and farm system
for the agro-food sector to be 7.6% introduced agriculture water pumps, suppliers.
which is much higher than 3.2% agriculture tractors, tillage tools
growth expected from industrial and rice combine harvesters. These Issues For Engineers
crops. The Agriculture Ministry days, DOA, MARDI and Farmers
aims to attract about RM20 billion Organisation Authority (FOA) If you have not been involved
in private investment to transform through their team of agricultural in this industry yet, let us introduce
the agriculture food sub-sector and engineers (now known as Agriculture you to a fair list of pressing issues
produce the targeted output, while and Biological Engineers) are always for engineers, not ranked according
the Government’s development in the fore front facilitating the to its importance as follows;
CF.Oppotunities4Eng 15-18.indd 1 3/30/07 12:06:19 PM

l The need to increase farm soils and poor drainage, farm layout with modern farm provisions capable
productivity and reduce operating that does not support mechanisation of maximising food production
costs through overall systems and the unconcentrated maturing so that more such entities can be
improvement. of tropical fruits and vegetables. set up all over the country. This
l The need to add value to farm However, three main areas are may include concept of integrated
products through collecting briefly discussed to enlighten all farming covering crops, poultry,
centre activities and processing. engineers. animal farming and aquaculture
l The need to increase farm to optimise resources and cross
mechanisation activities beyond Farm Layout subsidise the cost of operations.
tillage operations, with particular Constraints include managing
concern on mechanisation of For decades commercial farms problem soils, low skill level of farm
harvesting activities. producing vegetables and fruits were operators, small farm sizes, lack of
l The need for enhanced work often located along foothills and in machines and lack of infrastructure
conditions to render the food the fringe of estates growing industrial necessary for mechanisation such
sector attractive through crops. These farms have since been as farm roads and head land for
automation and increased dislocated and replaced with other machine mobilisation.
application of pneumatics kinds of development. DOA has
technology in farm attachments since struggled to restructure and Environmental Issues
and hand tools. transform traditional farms and
l The need to reduce soil erosion market gardens to commercial farms. Centralised and homogenous
and chemical run-off and the In developed countries, medium (single or single type of crop) farm
subsequent river and water-shed sized farms of 100-200 acres are systems may provide economies of
contamination, both attributed to disappearing and agriculture is scale necessary to compete in the
intensive farming and steep land becoming “polarised” between global economy but are difficult to
farming. large farming units that supply sustain environmentally. This is due to
l The need to conserve water and global markets through a few large pollution issues and consumption of
improve surface water quality corporations and the small intensive non-renewable resources. Examples
for irrigation with options of farming units that supply local and are concentrated rice farms where
increased ground water use. niche markets. In Malaysia, we are yield per hectare can reach 10 to 12
l The need for user friendly software looking forward to the emergence of tonnes per hectare. This scenario can
for irrigation and drainage medium- sized farms which will be a be equated to small scale intensive
management, monitoring tillage departure from the traditional market vegetable farms creating volumes
quality and crop management. garden or backyard vegetable plot. of run-offs in the form of soil and
DOA with the co-operation of state chemicals. As a comparison, it is
Besides competing with other Governments has set-up medium worth noting that the soil lost through
sectors for resources such as land, sized group farms and permanent erosion in the natural setting itself
water and skilled labour, the sector food parks (TKPM) in all states. amounts to no less than one ton/
is challenged by other issues. These Engineers may further suggest hectare/year.
include small farm sizes, unsuitable medium-sized model farms complete Except for rice which is planted
in river basins, all other crops
compete for land with other sectors,
namely housing, public utilities and
manufacturing. Of the 13.2 million
hectares of land in the Peninsula
only 3.3 million hectares is flat land,
the remaining area is either steep
or undulating. As for agriculture in
steep land, the DOA and MARDI
provide a 200 slope guideline for
farming, although soil erosion occurs
even in a 4-50 slope land. In Sarawak
a 250 limit is used because advanced
soil conservation techniques are
being considered there. Farming
of vegetable and cash crops in the
Cultivation under rainshelter structure Cameron Highlands demonstrated

classical examples of pollution Secondly, at the policy level,

in rivers and contamination of common goals in food production to
watershed. Between 1984 and 1989, be closely abided by farm operators
agriculture activity was recorded in include stress on food safety,
an area of 209,177 hectares of steep food security and food quality. In
land in the peninsula. The limits Malaysia, these objectives are to
have been increased to 20-250 (C5 be realised through the operations
category - fairly steep) particularly of an integrated system to manage
for long term crops like orchards hazards associated with a farm and
which can provide a canopy for to set out performance level (or
protection against erosion. rules) of agriculture production.
Engineers have re-examined Referred to as the Malaysia Standard
the depth of tillage, methods used MS 1784:2005 Crop Communities –
to pulverise soil as well as provide Fruits with fertigation system Good Agricultural Practices (GAP), it
sheltered structures to reduce the contains elements that are important
impact of rain on erosion in these machine and work specifications in farming. Engineers intending to
areas. Nevertheless, this area of including allowable losses. These practise in this field should take
practice calls to all engineers to problems are mostly attributed to note of the selected lists of elements
provide engineering solutions to the resource poor farmer, a low printed in the Appendix 1. Besides
maximise production in farms level of machine ownership and this, entrepreneurs who deal with
situated in sloping or steep land the subsequent dependence on food processing and downstream
without contributing to pollution custom service providers, contractors activities are recommended to
and contamination of surrounding and suppliers. Engineers have a follow GMP (Good Manufacturing
areas. humongous role in developing small Practices).
These days, although society and medium sized machines that are T h i r d l y, u n l i k e o t h e r
puts monetary value on food, it affordable and suitable for multiple disciplines, engineers in the food
also demands multi-functionality functions in a vegetable or fruit sector need to work closely with
- diversified and sustainable farm. Furthermore, efforts to add horticulturists, soil scientists, crop
agriculture which provides many automation and precision features protectionists, crop economists
public amenities. Agriculture can to these machines will remain a and extension officers, in proposing
provide open space for wildlife challenge. Sadly, the country has not engineering solutions. Of course,
habitat, cleansing and recycling of seen the proliferation of agriculture it is needless to emphasize the
air and water, scenic environment, a machinery manufacturing and need for engineers to have close
chance to enjoy nature and freedom fabrication enterprises although rapport with food growers. All this
from haze and pollution. infrastructure in the manufacturing will augur well for the utilisation
industry can easily support it. Thus, of skills, expected results and
Farm Mechanisation farmers are mostly serviced by small professional practice.
fabrication workshops.
Contractors determine the quality Conclusion
and extent of mechanisation such as Practice Standards
the type and size of machines offered All entrepreneurs work towards
in the market. For example, if a 30- Firstly, practitioners of agriculture a profit, be it farmers, machinery
50 Hp tractor is recommended for engineering in Malaysia should service providers or machinery
secondary tillage in a particular farm closely follow the ASAE Standards, suppliers. However, development of
due to its soil bearing capacity, it may now ASABE (American Standards farm machinery as well as ensuring
not be made available by contractors. in Agriculture and Biological sustainable agriculture for the
Instead, larger tractor of 60-70 Hp Engineering) for machine safety, nation requires new ideas through
range is made available because specification and power ratings, the involvement of more engineers
it is economic and a common irrigation specifications and farm in areas discussed above. This does
contract item. For the same reason, structures and the British Standards (BS) not include the more lucrative
the rice industry is serviced by large, to some extent. Machines introduced processing and downstream
used and reconditioned wheat and industrial product components manufacturing activities. There
combines, instead of new, medium used in constructing infrastructural is no doubt that engineers of
or appropriately sized Japanese rice systems will be closely matched to all disciplines can exploit these
combines. Such operations will recommended specifications and opportunities, particularly through
severely compromise recommended sizes in the standards. private sector initiatives. BEM

APPENDIX 1
Selected Lists Of Elements From The Malaysian Farm Certification Scheme For Good Agricultural Practice (SALM)
No. Elements Level

4.1.5 Farms shall not be located more than 1000meter above sea level (from 2002) Major must

4.1.6 Farms should not be located on steep slopes which may be detrimental to the environment Encouraged

4.2.2 Where farms are located on sloping land, appropriate soil conservation measures shall be
undertaken to prevent soil erosion and silt deposition into drains and waterways. Major must

5.2.1 Cultivation practices proven to improve or maintain soil structure or soil compaction
should be followed. Encouraged
5.3.1 Field cultivation techniques that minimise soil erosion shall be adopted Minor must
6.4.1 Fertilizer application machinery shall be kept in good working condition Minor must

7.2.1 The most efficient and commercially practical water delivery system should be used to ensure
the best utilization of nutrient and water resources Encouraged
7.3.1 Untreated sewage water is prohibited for use. Major must
7.4.1 Water should be delivered from sustainable sources. Encouraged
7.4.2 Producers are encouraged to seek advice from relevant authorities on water sourcing. Encouraged
8.8.1 Spray equipment shall be suitable. Minor must
8.8.2 Calibration shall be carried out to ensure accurate delivery of the required quantity of spray. Minor must
8.10.3 All shelving (pesticide storage) shall be of non-absorbent material. Encouraged
8.11.2 Official collection and disposal systems should be used if available. Encouraged
9.1.4 Workers shall have access to clean toilet and washing facilities in the vicinity of their work. Minor must
9.2.1 Packaging material shall be stored to avoid contamination… Minor must
9.2.4 Re-usable crates shall be cleaned to ensure that they are free from foreign materials… Minor must
10.2.1 Portable water shall be used for washing of produce. Major must

10.2.2 Based on risk assessments, source of water for post harvest washing should be analysed
at least once a year for microbial, chemical and mineral pollutants. Encouraged
12.1 All possible waste products and sources of pollution should be identified in all areas of
the farm business. Encouraged
12.2 Having identified wastes and pollutants a plan should be developed and implemented
to avoid and reduce wastage and pollution. Encouraged
12.3 Whenever possible avoid land filling or burning by recycling the waste. Encouraged
12.4 Crop debris may be composted and re-used for soil conditioning.

13.2.1 Training shall be given to workers operating dangerous or sophisticated equipments. Minor must
13.6.2 If on-site living quarters are provided they shall be habitable and have basic amenities… Encouraged
14.3.1 Crop producers are encouraged to convert unproductive sites (e.g. swamps, seep slopes,
deep peat etc.) into conservation areas for natural flora and fauna. Encouraged
Source: MALAYSIAN FARM CERTIFICATION SCHEME FOR GOOD AGRICULTURAL PRACTICE

(SALM), 2005. Department of Agriculture, Malaysia.

Edible Bird’s Nest:

Swiftlet Farming In
Specially-Designed Buildings
By Dr. Lim Chan Koon, Senior Manager (Planning), Protected Areas and Biodiversity Conservation
Unit, Sarawak Forestry Corporation
T
he annual breeding season
of the white-nest swiftlet is
a protracted event starting
in August and continuing until
May the following year. The first
breeding bout begins in late August
and continues through November
(Figure 1, middle peak). The second
breeding bout commences soon
after from December to March,
and the third bout is between
April and July. The occurrence of
repetitive and successive breeding
bouts shows that the white-nest
swiftlet employs a multi-brood
reproductive strategy, like other
species of edible nest swiftlets.
This means that they will produce
as many clutches and raise as
many young as possible within Figure 1. The three distinctive breeding bouts of White-nest Swiftlet from
the favourable breeding season. three colonies in middle Baram
Three breeding bouts are the norm
but some pairs of swiftlets may After one successful breeding new feathers at the expense of
produce a fourth clutch. bout and the nestlings have fledged, reproduction. Based on a study of
Depending on the time the a subsequent clutch is produced. The a natural colony in middle Baram,
adult bird sits on the eggs, the inter-clutch period varies according Sarawak, the mean interval between
average incubation period for the to the season, the longest being the the April-July and August-November
white-nest swiftlets is 25 days period of intense moult between breeding bout is 79 ± 9 days, while
(between 19 and 32 days) while the April and August. This has to do with the inter val bet ween the t wo
average fledging period is 45 days food source and energy because following breeding bouts is 47 ± 6
(between 37 and 54 days). these resources are used to produce days (Table 1).
Table 1. The interval from the previous brood to the laying of subsequent clutch among the white-nest
swiftlets in Lubang Salai, Baram.
Interval of previous brood to Interval of egg loss to
subsequent clutch subsequent clutch
Apr-Jul to Aug-Nov to Apr-Jul to Aug-Nov to
Aug-Nov Dec-Mar Aug-Nov Dec-Mar
Average (day ± SE) 79 ± 9 47 ± 6 108 ± 14 80 ± 10
Range (day) 31 - 123 10 - 97 71 - 144 48 - 129
CF.EdibleBird'sNest 19-22.indd 1 3/29/07 5:27:47 PM

When egg loss occurs during energy reserves to a level sufficient in Java, Indonesia. It is believed that
the April-July breeding bout, no for another attempt. There may be a the first of such houses originated
replacement egg is laid thereafter threshold, below which breeding is from Sedayu in East Java in 1880.
until the beginning of the new impossible. The onset of breeding is The initial approach was passive
breeding season in August. The controlled by internal physiological and colonisation of such buildings
interval from egg loss to the lay of (hormonal) circa-annual rhythm, and by the swiftlets was a matter of pure
subsequent clutch between April-July the abundance of food. Changes luck. Little was done to improve the
and August-November breeding bout in breeding activity are directly conditions within these houses to
is 108 ± 14 days, while an interval of associated with the availability and attract the swiftlets. This era can be
80 ± 10 days was recorded between abundance of food resources. considered as “passive farming”.
the following two breeding bouts It was only in the post-war decades
(Table 1). Development Of Swiftlet (i.e. 1950 – 1990) that techniques of
Swiftlets are known to have a Farming Industry swiftlet farming underwent some
prolonged moult cycle that advances The practice of swiftlet farming improvements. The transition from
simultaneously with breeding. In has been in existence for some time passive to semi-intensive farming
the case of white-nest swiftlets, the
moult cycle is not a post-nuptial one
but a recurrent event. In Sarawak, the What are edible nest swiftlets?
months between April and July are Swiftlets refer generally to a mix assemblage of small-sized cavernicolous
generally considered “bad season” swifts from the Family Apodidae that roost and nest in caves. When not
by the edible birds’nest traders at roost, swiftlets spend their time entirely on the wing, foraging outside
because the quantity of nest cement the cave. Swiftlets are insectivorous birds that feed on airborne insects
used in nest construction is very and arthropods. Two unique characters of edible nest swiftlets are their
much reduced while the number of sublingual glands that produce saliva for nest building during the breeding
feathers incorporated in the nests is seasons and their ability to navigate in total darkness using acoustic
relatively higher. orientation or echolocation. Males and females look similar, and both play
Moulting imposes a severe strain equal roles in nesting and rearing of the young. The nest is a self-supporting
on the bird because the energy to cup-shaped structure adhering to the cave wall. This nest cement is the
edible part which constitutes the main ingredient of bird’s nest soup.
produce new feathers is very high,
In Malaysia, there are four species of swiftlets. They are the white-nest
especially in small birds. At the same
swiftlets (Aerodramus fuciphagus), the black-nest swiftlets (A. maximus),
time, nest building and egg formation
the mossy-nest swiftlets (A. salanganus), and the glossy swiftlets (Collocalia
are processes of great energy demand
esculenta) (Lim & Cranbrook, 2002). The mossy-nest swiftlet is not found in
too. Moulting is normally carried out
Peninsular Malaysia, but is very common in Sabah and Sarawak. Of these,
at a slower rate if it overlaps with
only three species are exploited from natural caves throughout their range,
breeding. A slower rate is acceptable
while the species cultivated extensively in the swiftlet farming industry is
when the smaller primary feathers are
the white-nest swiftlets.
in moult. However, as the moulting
progresses to larger primary feathers
Definition of “Swiftlet Farming”
at the end of its cycle between May
“Swiftlet farming” can be defined as a production system of edible bird’s
and July, it is urgent to replace these
nests using specially-designed buildings for the swiftlets to roost and nest. The
feathers as quickly as possible at the
most appropriate analogy is apiculture or bee keeping. Instead of a hive, a
expense of reproduction in order to specially constructed building emulating the cave-like environment provides
compensate for the loss of surface alternative or additional roosting place for the swiftlets. Just like bees, the
area of the wing. This is because swiftlets are free to roam and forage anywhere outside, only returning to
the loss of even one or two large roost at night.
primary feathers may jeopardize the
aerodynamic of flight, and hinder Composition of Edible Bird’s Nest
foraging efficiency. The salivary nest cement is a kind of glycoprotein. Analysis using High-
The production of saliva for nest performance Liquid Chromatography identified 17 amino acids in the protein
construction by both sexes, and the composition (Lim, 1999). These are aspartic acid, glutamic acid, serine,
formation of eggs by the female, glycine, histidine, threonine, arginine, alanine, proline, tyrosine, valine,
exerts considerable demands on methionine, cystine, isoleucine, leucine, phenylalanine and lysine. The
body reserves. Egg formation is a carbohydrate composition comprises one sialic acid (N-acetylneuraminic
process of great energy requirement. acid), two hexosamines (glucosamine and galactosamine), three hexoses
After one bout of breeding, the (galactose, mannose and glucose) and one deoxyhexose (fucose).
swiftlets need to build up their

illustrates the ingenuity of the swiftlet and 1950s. Similar to our Javanese Miri. Nevertheless, it was known
house owners with numerous counterparts, house owners in at that time that it was inevitable
modernizations and innovations. Malaysia made no effort to modify that parallel endeavours will be
The swiftlet house owners used their the interior of the buildings to undertaken in Sabah and Sarawak
intuition to improve and increase the accommodate the swiftlets during following the success in Indonesia
productivity of their swiftlet houses that period nor did they chase them and in Peninsular Malaysia. Since
through pain-staking trial and error; away! The earliest published record 2000, many shops have been
and modifying the interior conditions on swiftlets houses in Malaysia was renovated or converted into swiftlet
of the house to emulate a cave-like by Nigel Langham in his study on houses in Sarikei, Sibu, Bintulu, Miri
environment. These well-managed the white-nest swiftlet in Penang in and lately in Kuching.
population of swiftlets began to 1985. The first recorded colony of
increase in numbers and spread to In more recent developments, white-nest swiftlets in Sabah was in
other cities located further inland. intensive farming techniques have 1999 in Kota Kinabalu. This colony
The next phase of development spread to Peninsular Malaysia in the nests in a secluded section of a
in swiftlet farming was in the field of past 10 to 15 years (cf. 1995) in towns basement of a shopping complex.
acoustic and manipulation of swiftlet such as Nibong Tebal in Penang, Since then, swiftlet houses can be
behaviour. Play-back of swiftlet calls Sitiawan and Taiping in Perak, and found in Tawau, Sandakan and Kota
was used to excite and entice or lure in the states of Terengganu, Pahang, Kinabalu.
the swiftlet into newly constructed Kelantan, Johor and Malacca.
buildings specifically designed for It was estimated that there were at Guiding Principles For A Typical
this purpose. This revolutionized least 150 swiftlet houses throughout Swiftlet House
and accelerated the expansion of Peninsular Malaysia in the year 1997.
this industry. The development of The number increased to about 800 • Condition of the Swiftlet House
swiftlet houses in Java and Sumatra houses in 2000 and between 5,000 The physical structure of a swiftlet
in Indonesia has hugely increased the and 8,000 houses in 2003. By now, house must be drawn by registered
quantity of edible bird’s nest coming it is not surprising if this figure has architects and engineers so that it is
into the market. In 1995, Indonesia exceeded the 10,000 mark.However, solidly built, and does not pose any
produced 120 tonnes of edible nests it is believed that only 30% to 40% danger to the people working inside.
accounting for 80% of the world of these are successful and viable. The floor of the swiftlet house must
market. Taking a very conservative be water-proof to enable cleaning
estimate of RM5,000 per kg of nests, l Sabah and Sarawak to be done without difficulties.
this represents RM 600 million of There is no exact record as to Every swiftlet house must have a
revenue from this industry. when the first swiftlet house was proper bathroom for people to clean
constructed in Sabah or Sarawak. themselves or take showers after
l Peninsular Malaysia My first encounter with white- entering the swiftlet house.
Spontaneous colonization of nest swiftlets ina town area was
old shop houses by the white-nest in 1996 in Bintulu. By 1998 two l General Sanitary &
swiftlets throughout Peninsular confirmed locations of swiftlet Waste Treatment
Malaysia occurred as early as 1940s houses were reported in Bintulu and The swiftlet droppings or guano
must be removed regularly to
maintain the cleanliness of the
interior environment. Pests such as
house rats, wild rodents, cockroaches
and other harmful animals must be
eliminated from the swiftlet house.
The swiftlet house owners must
ensure the aesthetic value of the
surrounding areas and the tidiness
of the structure (i.e. exterior of the
swiftlet house) are maintained and
preserved. The surrounding of a
swiftlet house must be kept tidy. Any
effluent from the cleaning process of
a swiftlet house must be channelled
into a septic tank or sedimentation
Interior of a typical bird’s nest house ponds. NO effluent can be discharged

Close-up of white-nest wwiftlets in a house White-nest swiftlets in natural caves
directly into natural watercourse (i.e. house are to conform to good is among the few Southeast Asian
river, stream, canal, drain, spring, personal hygiene practices. All countries that is experiencing
reservoir, lake, etc.). workers (e.g. maintenance personnel, tremendous grow th and rapid
nest collectors etc.) involved in the expansion in this field. Its future and
l Nuisance Abatement day-to-day operation of a swiftlet sustainability depend very much on
The peacefulness of the public house, including the owner, must the role of the swiftlet house farmers
and surrounding areas must be strictly undergo regular medical check- as well as traders to uphold the edible
respected and given top priority. ups as a prevention or precaution bird’s nest status as a gastronomic
Efforts must be taken to reduce noise against any unwanted outbreak elixir. A thorough understanding of
pollution from the playback of swiftlet of disease. Each swiftlet house the breeding biology of the swiftlets
calls to lure the swiftlets. The speaker must have its own set of clean and can promote better management
must be pointed towards the sky and proper apparel that are sanitized and sustainable nest harvesting
not horizontally towards adjacent regularly (e.g. working attire such without sacrificing the eggs or killing
buildings. Preventive measures must as rubber boots, facemasks or the young nestlings. Consumers’
be taken to avoid obnoxious smell overalls). These apparel must not be confidence in consuming bird’s
produced from the swiftlet droppings. interchanged or transferred to other nest is the key to the survival of this
In the name of good neighbourliness, swiftlet houses. Anybody entering industry. A good husbandry and
it is up to the individual entrepreneur a swiftlet house must change his hygienic way of producing bird nests
to promote rapport and understanding normal casual shirt and shoe into the from a properly maintained swiftlet
with his neighbours. specifically-assigned attire to prevent house is an excellent self-assurance
the potential spread of transmittable for many. Better quality control is
l Water Pond Inside disease from one swiftlet house to also the key to success and the way
Swiftlet House another. It is advisable that upon forward. BEM
No stagnant water must be allowed leaving a swiftlet house, the person
to stand inside the swiftlet house. must take a shower before putting
This is to prevent mosquitoes and back his or her casual shirt to References
other insect vectors from using it as reduce the risk of zoonotic disease
a breeding ground. This obsolete transmission from bird to human Lim, C. K. (1999) Sustainable
method of constructing pools or water or vice versa. The owner of a Harvesting and Conservation
tanks to lower the interior temperature swiftlet house and anybody in daily of the Edible Nest Swiftlets
and to increase humidity must be contact with the swiftlet house or (Aerodramus spp.) of Sarawak.
replaced with modern electronic swiftlets must keep watch on any Unpubl. PhD thesis. University
humidifier with time switch. The unusual symptoms of illness among of Kent at Canterbury, United
interior can be humid but NOT wet co-workers or immediate family Kingdom.
so that the guano does not produce members.
an obnoxious odour. Lim, C. K. & Cranbrook, Earl
Conclusion of (2002) Swiftlets of Borneo:
l Precautionary Measures On Builders of Edible Nests. Natural
Health and Disease Prevention Swiftlet farming industry is a very History Publications (Borneo),
Employees that come into direct lucrative business that guarantees Kota Kinabalu.
contact with the swiftlets in a swiftlet handsome profit. Currently, Malaysia

Smart Farming
Technology Research
For New Agriculture
By Ir. Mohd Amin Mohd Soom, Professor and Head, SMART Farming Technology Laboratory,
Institute of Advanced Technology, Universiti Putra Malaysia
S
MART Farming Technology Source Pollution from Agricultural yield variation are then analysed
refers to techniques and tools Land, Fertigation and Micro-irrigation and remedial actions are taken
that are Scientific, Marketable, Systems, and technology for reducing precisely to increase yields, but with
Affordable, Reliable and Time- the impact of land development on minimum inputs in order to maximise
saving for application in production irrigation water supply. The following profits. Testing of precision farming
agriculture. The SMART farming sections will highlight some of the technology locally is a step forward
technology research group at UPM research work in precision farming in exploiting information technology
is multi-disciplinary, comprising and agricultural water management. in agriculture to reduce inputs and
personnel from the Department The paddy soil variability as measured maximize returns from agricultural
of Biological and Agricultural by apparent electrical conductivity is investment. Figure 1 shows the
Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, used to determine variability in soil system components for site-specific
Faculty of Agriculture and the physical properties and available or precise management of soil, water
Institute of Advanced Technology. nutrients in paddy fields. NOAA and crop or precision farming.
Research areas include Precision satellite remote sensing data is used
Farming, Agricultural Robotics, and to estimate paddy evapotranspiration, Rapid Land Zoning To
Agricultural Water Management and GIS is used in irrigation water Reduce Labour, Time And
Technology. management. Cost Of Soil Mapping for
One of the group’s current Precion Farming
research projects includes Precision Precision Farming
Farming of Rice, a joint research The current practice of nutrient
project between UPM, Malaysian Precision farming (PF) is a management involves applying a set
Center for Remote Sensing (MACRES), management technique to apply of recommendations to the paddy
Irrigation and Agricultural Drainage the right input in the right amount field, based upon factors such
Division of the Ministry of Agriculture at the right place and the right as soil tests and rice yield goals.
and Agro-Based Industry Malaysia, time. Information technology is Since fertility level in the field is
MARDI, Department of Agriculture used in precision farming to tailor highly variable, equal fertilizer
(DOA), and Northwest Selangor IADP soil, water and crop management treatment throughout the field
Ministry of Agriculture and Agro- to match varying conditions (soil will be wasteful. Precision farming
Based Industry Malaysia (PBLS). texture, moisture and nutrient status, will help to reduce wastage and
Many post-graduate students pest distribution, etc). PF has been improve rice yields. Soil sampling
and undergraduates are involved practiced in advanced countries and analysis of the actual nutrient
in carrying out R&D in SMART since the 1990s and it has since status during the crop growing
Farming Technology at UPM. Some then generated interest locally (Amin sea son will be a bet ter ba sis
of the the research topics include et al., 2004). PF is useful for our for fer tilizer recommendation.
Rapid Soil Variability Measurement important crops like oil palm and However, this is laborious and time
using Electrical Conductivity Sensor, rice as well as some horticultural consuming. A better technique is
Modelling Paddy Irrigation Water crops. For all these crops, yield needed to quantify the required
Allocation using GIS, Precision mapping is the first step to be carried fertilizer deficit to be applied to a
Farming of Rice, Precision Farming of out to determine the location of the certain area of the field.
Oil Palm, Automated Water Control highest and lowest yielding areas The objectives of our research
for Paddy Irrigation, Non-Point in the field. The factors causing study were to identify the spatial
CF.SmartFarmUPM 23-27.indd 1 3/29/07 5:33:15 PM

Components of Machinery System

Precision Farming
Global Positioning System
Sensing System Mapping System Control System
Satellite
Remote Sensing
Variable Rate Applicator
Geographic Information System
Soil Sensor Analysis of Field Information Fertilizers
pH Pesticides
EC Sensor Geostatistics Seed Application
OM Sensor
Mapping of Field Information Irrigation
Kriging Method Fertigation
Water Sensor
Flow meter
Depth indicator Vector Attribute Table
VAT Map Site Specific
Growth Sensor Irrigation Management
SPAD Fertilization
Height
Pesticide
Tiller Sensor
Spectro-radiometer Seed
Expected Effects
Database of Field Information Optimum Profitability

Yield Sensor
Sustainability of Agriculture
Flow
Protection of Environment
Moisture Sensor
Figure 1. Precision farming components for site-specific management of soil, water and crop. Precision farming
involves one or more of the 5S technologies, viz. sensor system, machinery system, global positioning system,
geographic information system and control system.
va r ia bilit y o f s oil p r o p e r t ie s rice yield obtained corresponded The study was conducted at two
and to evaluate and correlate to higher EC, N and P found dif ferent locations; one at the
the relationship bet we en rice f r o m la b o rato r y s oil analysis maize cultivation area in UPM
yield and soil-water parameters. (Eltaib, et al., 2002). Knowing plot (0.54 ha) and another at
The variability of Soil Electrical the management zones and the Block C Sawah Sempadan paddy
Conductivity was correlated to rate to apply in each zone is very fields (144 ha). Extensive data
N, P, K, Mg, OM, and Yield in useful in achieving high rice yield points were obtained (one second
a 1.2 ha (3-acre) paddy field at at a reduced cost of fer tilizer interval). The ECa maps indicated
Sawah Sempadan, Selangor. Soil application. Site-specific fertilizer that it is similar to the elevation
samples from 36 locations in the management offers a new method map and some soil nutrient maps.
field were taken in a systematic to prevent excessive chemical The paddy field ECa (Figures 2
m a n n e r f r o m t h e t o p 20 c m . pollution in the water system and and 3) showed that the sensor
Dif ferential global positioning the environment. could identify the zone of an old
system (DGPS) was used to An important component of river located within the study area
determine the sampling locations. the precision farming cycle is the while a detailed soil series map
Geostatistical techniques were soil spatial description for zone alone might not have found it. The
used to analyze the variability in management practices. An on-the- chemical and physical properties
the soil chemical properties of the go EC sensor was used, to replace of 236 soil samples were analyzed.
samples to assist in site-specific acquiring soil data from intensive The relation of ECa to soil P, K,
f e r t ilize r manage m e nt . D e e p sampling, which is usually time Clay and Sand indicated that they
percolation rates were obtained consuming and laborious. The could be estimated. LAFEZ-EC has
by analysis of soil samples from measurement of apparent electrical shown to be a good technique for
60 plots randomly selected from conduc tivit y (EC a) wa s made soil spatial variability and nutrient
throughout the 2,300 ha irrigation using four equidistant electrode assessments (Amin et al., 2004).
compartment (Aimrun et al., 2002; techniques known as the ‘Wenner’ M anual s oil s a m pling an d
2004). array technique. Veris EC sensor laboratory analysis revealed that
Based on soil sampling after for acquiring ECa map was used EC is positively correlated to rice
the harvesting season, the high for soil nut rient s a sse ssment . yield and NPK. EC monitoring by an

(a) (b) (c)

Figure 2. (a) The EC probe pulled by a tractor installed with DGPS, (b) results of four passes spaced 15m apart in a
1.2 ha plot, (c) krigged map of ECa showing management zones.
on-the-go sensor after each harvest module simulates water demand enhance decision making as the
is a good indicator of soil fertility of the scheme and recommends season progresses. RIMIS can be
variability. Action maps can be irrigation deliveries to the paddy extended to other rice irrigation
provided to the farmers to respond fields depending on available schemes in Malaysia and other parts
to the fertility variability. They can water resources. The Monitoring of the world.
save money on fertilizers, and know module gives information on the Using GIS for irrigation water
where to actually apply the required uniformity of water distribution and management can help reduce
amount. The integration of various the shortfall or excess. The Post- water use as well as increase the
precision farming technologies Season Analysis module uses daily water productivity index. This is
developed in this study will be or weekly information to evaluate accomplished by knowing where
further refined and enhanced with the season’s irrigation performance. and how much to apply, and when
the help of the users on the ground. The Optimization module is for to stop irrigation. Water supply is
Operationalizing precision farming optimal utilization by equitable a function of evapotranspiration,
needs further work before it can distribution of available water deep percolation and standing
be widely used by farm managers through proportional allocation to water depth with respect to the age
and field engineers. For farmers, all irrigable areas and the Detailed of the rice plant. Some soils with
they will need simpler tools and S c h e m e I n f o r m a t i o n m o d ul e high deep percolation rates may
guides to help them micro-manage provides information about the not need to be irrigated in times of
their fields. scheme. water shortage so that a wider area
New performance indicators can be irrigated with the limited
Rice Irrigation Management such as Modified Relative Water available irrigation water. Equitable
Information System (RIMIS) S u p p l y (M R W S ), C u m ula t i v e distribution of irrigation water is
Modified Relative Water Supply more achievable if water quantity
A more equitable water (CMRWS) and Ponding Water is monitored and measurements are
distribution is desired to cover Index (PWI) are integrated with made throughout the granary.
wider areas with limited water other indicators to enhance the Two main tasks of an irrigation
resources. Rowshon, et al. (2003, monitoring of irrigation water manager are the allocation of water
2004, and 2006) developed Rice delivery as the season advances. to the farmers, and the operation of
Irrigation Management Information The results are displayed on the the hydraulic infrastructures (such as
System (RIMIS) a s a de cision computer screen allowing the the Constant Head Orifice or CHO)
support system for monitoring rice irrigation manager to view colour- to accomplish the allocation. The
granaries. RIMIS developed for coded thematic maps, tables and GIS user-interface programme was
Tanjung Karang Irrigation Scheme graphs in a comprehensible form developed to compute the release
is an ArcGIS-VBA user-interface to ease decision-making in the deliveries from the main canal
integrated with five modules and management and operation of system (Secondary Off-takes/CHO)
several sub-modules for the paddy the irrigation scheme. The use based on spatial and temporal
irrigation systems. The Scheduling of modern GIS technology can demand of the paddy field. The aim

Figure 3. Variability of apparent bulk electrical conductivity measured using Veris 3100 EC sensor at Block C (118
plots, 144 ha) Sawah Sempadan Irrigation Compartment, Tanjung Karang Selangor. A former river (yellow tract) can
be clearly seen. Some correlations between ECa and rice yield can be observed.

of the programme was to provide Conclusion

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
efficient and fair water supply taking
into account actual field conditions We should not take our land and
The author is very grateful to
and e s t ablishe d t ar ge t s. This water resources for granted. Our
UPM and the financial support
programme can compute regular soil and water resources should be
from the Ministry of Science,
or periodical irrigation deliveries of exploited with proper management
Technology and Innovation through
the planted area of a single CHO, for the benefit of all stakeholders
IRPA funding, and UPM-MACRES
or several CHOs which are essential and generations to come. SMART
Precision Farming Research Grant.
for gate settings. The innovative Farming Technology can be applied
The assistance and support from all
feature of the programme is that it to ensure profitable agricultural
students and staff at the Center for
integrates all activities under the production without jeopardizing
TIDES, Department of Biological
GIS user-interface of scheduling the quantity and quality of our
and Agricultural Engineering,
programmes, thus allowing for limited land and water resources.
Faculty of Engineering and SMART
easy data entry and presentation. The examples given in this article
Farming Technology Laboratory,
The weekly discharges are also where 5S technologies are used can
Institute of Advanced Technology
displayed on the CHOs of the main be further studied and applied to
UPM are highly appreciated.
canal along with coloured maps. our new agriculture. BEM
REFERENCES
Aimrun, W., M.S.M. Amin, and S.M. Eltaib, 2004. Effective porosity of lowland paddy soils as an estimation
of its saturated hydraulic conductivity. GEODERMA 121 (2004) pp 197-203 Aug. Elsevier. Available on-line
at www.sciencedirect.com.
Aimrun, W., Amin M. S. M., Mokhtaruddin M. M. and Eltaib S. M. 2002. Determination of Soil Physical
Properties in Lowland Rice Area of Tanjung Karang Irrigation Scheme Malaysia. In Proc of 2nd World Engineering
Congress, July 22-25, Kuching Sarawak, Malaysia. pp. 363-368.
Amin, MSM (Ed), 2004. Remote Sensing and Other SMART Farming Technologies for Precision Agriculture
in Asia. Proc. of 1st Asian Conference on Precision Agriculture. MACRES/UPM, Kuala Lumpur 11-13 May
2004.
Amin MSM, W. Aimrun, SMG Eltaib and CS Chan, 2004. Spatial Soil Variability Mapping using Electrical
Conductivity Sensor for Precision Farming of Rice. International Journal of Engineering and Technology
Vol. 1 No. 1 pp 47-57. On-Line Journal of FEIIC. Available at www.eng.upm.edu.my/~ijet
Chan CS, MSM Amin, TS Lee, and CH Mohamud, 2006. A New and Cost Effective Technique in Predicting
Paddy Soil Productivity. IEM Journal Vol 67 No 4. December 2006
ElTaib SM, M.S.M. Amin, MM Hanafi, ARM Shariff and W. Aimrun, 2002. Field-Scale Spatial Variability of
Soil Chemical Properties at Sawah Sempadan Malaysia. Science Asia. Vol. 24, No 9.
Rowshon M.K., M.S.M. Amin and TJ Deepak. Rice Irrigation water management using GIS: A case study
of Tanjung Karang Rice irrigation scheme, Malaysia. Journal of Applied Irrigation Science, Germany. April
2003.
Rowshon, M.K. And M.S.M. Amin, 2004. 1st Asian Conference RIMIS: Rice Irrigation Management
Information System For Precision Farming Of Rice on Precision Agriculture. MACRES/UPM, Kuala Lumpur
11-13 May 2004.
Rowshon, M.K., MSM. Amin, S.M.H. Hassan, A.R.M. Shariff, and T.S. Lee 2006. New Performance Indicators
for Rice-based Irrigation Systems. Paddy Water Environ 4(2): 71-79 (2006). Springer.

30 SPECIAL REPORT THE INGENIEUR
Design And Construction Of Sungai Perai

Bridge, Butterworth, Penang
By Ir. Dr. Ismail Bin Mohamed Taib, Head of Structural, Geotechnical & Bridge Engineering Branch,
JKR HQ and Dato’ Ir. Mohamad Razali bin Othman, Deputy Director General I, JKR Malaysia
T
he bridge over Sungai Perai is part of the
Butterworth Outer Ring Road (BORR). The purpose
of BORR is to serve metropolitan Butterworth
and its surrounding areas. The location plan is shown
in Figure 1.
The project was divided into several packages and
the bridge over Sungai Perai was constructed under
Package 1B. The Design and Build Contract for Package
1B was awarded to Lingkaran Luar Butterworth (LLB)
Sendirian Berhad by the Federal Government. LLB
appointed Perunding Jurutera DAH Sendirian Berhad
as its consultant.
Package 1B started at Chainage 2400m of Jalan
Perai on the South Bound and ended at Chainage
4250m of Jalan Bagan Dalam on the North Bound.
The total length of Sungai Perai is 1.601km consisting
of portal structures approach viaduct and a main
bridge. The main bridge is mainly a dedicated trumpet
interchange to the port. Figure 2 shows the plan view
of Package 1B.
Figure 1: Location plan
Figure 2: Plan view of Package 1B
SR.PeraiBridge(30-35).indd 1 4/9/07 3:02:04 PM

THE INGENIEUR SPECIAL REPORT 31
Details Of Sungai Perai Bridge
Width of bridge (approach viaduct) = 27.8m

Width of bridge (at mid span) = 28.8m
No. of traffic lanes = 6
Width of traffic lane = 3.5m
Width of road shoulder = 1.5m
Width of central median = 2.0m
Span of bridge (at mid span) = 185m
Span of bridge (at viaduct) = 50m
Span of ramps = 24-50m
Total number of spans = 56 spans
Bridge Vertical clearance = 21.5m
• Substructures
Except for the main pile cap, the substructures

comprised precast spun piles, pile caps and twin leaf
piers.
• Piles
Total number of piles = 970

Figure 3: View of Twin Leaf Pier Ribbed finishes
1016mm diameter steel piles
(main pilecap) = 650-tonne capacity
800mm diameter spun piles = 350-tonne capacity The piers for the cable-stayed bridge have the same
600mm diameter spun piles = 125 & 175-tonne ribbed features but the two leaves are connected to
capacity provide the necessary stability and rigidity. The pylon is
Depth of piles = varies from constructed above and throughout the deck with similar
40 - 74.5m features but with a higher grade of concrete (Grade 80).
Figure 4 shows the pylon of the main bridge.
• Pile Caps Total number of piers = 57

Pier height = Varies from 6 – 24 m
Total number of pile caps = 58 Pylon height = 40 m
Concrete quantities = 5,200m3 Concrete quantities = 3400m3
Steel quantities = 550 tonnes Steel quantities = 700 tonnes
• Piers
The piers were constructed using in situ concrete

grade 60 in 3m meter lifts by using a climbing
formwork system. Looking from the side span, the
piers look like an organic twin celery leaf of variable
eccentrically bi-radial curved section with ribbed
features as shown in Figure 3. Construction joints
were made truly horizontal to coincide with the
formwork lines.
Each pier varies in height. The highest pier is 24m
high. The piers were designed as integral flexible
support at heights in excess of 12m in order to
accommodate the movement of the bridge during
construction as well as in its final erected state. Piers
shorter than 12m have bearings. Figure 4: Pylon of the Main Bridge.

• Stays determine the total precamber at the start of the

construction.
Parallel wire strands stay cables were made of 7mm The construction analysis determined the casting
galvanized wires and covered with polyethylene and geometry based on the total precambering of the deck
injected with wax. The strands making up the cables and casting of tower taking into account the deflection
were housed in HDPE tubes. of the tower during construction. This included the
A fan system was chosen for efficiency as far as the initial cable forces as the segments were erected and
stays are concerned but the loads were concentrated the final adjustments of the stay forces after the midspan
on the upper part of the towers. Thus the anchorages closure and addition of the superimposed dead loads.
were distributed over a certain height of the tower. The stay forces and the deflections of the structure at
The connection of the stays to the towers was by the end of construction had to be in agreement with the
means of saddles over which the cable passes. This requirements of the design.
led to simpler tower details. The cables stresses were
generally limited to 45% of Ultimate Tensile Stress CONSTRUCTION
(UTS).
• Casting Of Segments
• Abutment And Portal
The segments were casted at a casting yard. The
The portal consisted of pile caps, walls, columns casting yard was uniquely prepared for this project
and conventional reinforced concrete slabs. Precast at Bukit Tengah which is located 10km from the site.
fascia panels with ribbed features were spanned An area of approximately 36 acres was prepared to
between the column supports at the side of the portal. accommodate five spine moulds, six side frame moulds,
At the end of the portal, the normal earth retaining curing yard for approximately 60 segments and storage
cantilever type abutments were located to form the facility for 90 segments.
supports of the deck. The abutment walls were also The adopted casting technique was called ‘short line
featured with ribbed finishes integrated with the match cast system’. The segment was casted one at a
finishes of the portal and deck. time using one mould. Each segment was then shifted to
the second position (match cast position) where a series
DESIGN OF CABLE STAYS of rotations and translations were made to place each
newly casted segment in its theoretical position within
The detailed design provided the contractor the road alignment, taking into consideration the final
with the requirements at the end of construction. and the construction precambers.
These included the stay length and the forces. The Each segment was successfully set out in the match
precamber of the deck and the towers were also cast position. The next segment was then casted
stated. The cambers provided by the designer allow against it. The operation was repeated until the whole
for long term movements of the structure from the continuous span was completed. Figure 5 and 6 show
end of construction to time infinity. To these were the night view of main bridge and general view of the
added the displacements during construction to ramp respectively.
Figure 5: Night view of the Main Bridge

sprinkling system and recycling facilities to wet and moist

up the segments. The curing bay could accommodate
up to 60 segments simultaneously so as to economize
water usage.
The segments were water cured for 14 days, followed
by the application of a curing compound for a further
seven days. In this period of curing, the segments
were protected from direct wind and sun in the curing
chamber.
Precast Segments Statistics
Number of viaduct spine segments : 450

Weight of viaduct spine segments : from 70 -125 tonnes
Number of ramp segments : 503
Weight of ramp segments : from 40 - 60 tonnes
Number of side frames : 477
Weight of side frame : from 12 - 35 tonnes
Figure 6: General view of the Ramp Spine segments casting cycle : 15 segments/week
Side frame casting cycle : 18 segments/week
• Handling Stacking
The stripping of mould for each segment could only • Erection Method
be done once the segment had reached a compressive
strength of 12 N/mm2. In additon, the segments could The erection method introduced for the viaduct
only be lifted after the concrete strength reached a approaches to the cable stayed bridge and part of the
minimum strength of 25 N/mm2. The lifting was carried ramps was called “precast segmental span by span
out by a straddle carrier which was capable of lifting the construction”. A 1,500-tonne overhead gantry was
heaviest segment of 125 tonnes. used for this erection method. The remaining parts
of the ramps, where the radius was as tight as 43m to
• Curing Of Segments 60m, the same erection method was used but with
an ‘under slung support system’. See Figure 7. The
For curing purposes, the segments were placed in main span of the cable stayed bridge was constructed
a curing chamber. The curing chamber comprised ten by cantilever method using portal frame lifting
units of 500mm deep basins, equipped with automatic equipment.
Figure 7:
Erection using a 1,500-
tonne overhead gantry

The side frames were erected by swivel, which system. The side frames were always delivered close
was a steel crane system uniquely designed for this to the lifting device at the ground level, vertical to
project. There were two similar side frame swivels their final locations. Figure 8 and 9 show the final
working in parallel to erect each opposite side frame connection of the main segments and side frames to
simultaneously. The swivels were of a self-launching form the elegant superstructure for the bridge.
Figure 8:
Final
connection
of Main
Segments and
Side Frames
Figure 9:
Final connection
of Main
Segments And
Side Frames
(General view
of Western
Approach
Viaduct With
bifurcations)

Prestressing bare strands 15.7 mm diameter (viaduct & ramps) : 1,169 tonnes – equivalent to 990 km of strands
Prestressing bare strands 15.7 mm diameter (cable stay bridge) : 400 tonnes – equivalent to 399 km of strands
Stay Cables 15.7 mm diameter (coated strands) : 285 tonnes – equivalent to 242 km of strands
Total length of strands : 1,571 km

• Period Of Construction
Date of Site Possession : September 6, 1999 Date of Completion : December 31, 2005
DURABLE CONCRETE
• Durability Requirements:
The specification calls for insitu concrete grades 40, 60 and 80 with the following durability requirements:
Initial Surface Rapid Chloride

Absorption Test (ISAT) = 0.1ml/m2/s Permeability Test (RCPT) = 100 coulombs
For precast (grade 80):
Initial Surface Rapid Chloride

Absorption Test (ISAT) = 0.5ml/m2/s Permeability Test (RCPT) = 500 coulombs
• Sampling And Testing Of Concrete Elements For approximately 20% for both the insitu and the precast
ISAT and RCPT concrete elements.
Two beam samples of dimensions 150mm x 150mm • Control Heat Of Hydration

x 600mm were prepared from every pour of concrete
(i.e. pile caps, pier lifts, precast spine elements, side The need for controlling heat during concreting arose
frame units, etc.) regardless of the size of the pour. only when concrete was placed for the marine pile cap
These samples were exposed to the same curing of the cable-stayed bridge. The actual pile cap size was
conditions. 17m x 14m x 2.5m. Originally, Tremie Mixed 4 (TM4)
The samples were tested at 28 and 60 days. The mix was used for the concrete.
first concrete beam was used for Rapid Chloride It was recorded that the maximum concrete
Permeability (RCPT) where five cores of 100mm temperature of the mix exceeded 90°C and the
diameter were taken, two of which were tested at temperature differentials were in order of 35°C to 40°C.
As a result, the pile cap had experienced severe cracks,
28 days and the other three cores were tested at
externally and internally, which caused it to be rejected
60 days.
and ultimately demolished.
The 28 day-results were used for indication
In order to control the heat of hydration, a new mix
purposes. The second beam was used for the ISAT
called TM16 which contained less cement and silica
where four 150mm x 150mm cubes were cut from the
fume was introduced together with an internal cooling
beam and tested at 28 days. system to properly control the generated heat and
temperature differentials. The pile cap was successfully
• Permeability Reduction With Time casted using this new combination mix. No cracks had
been observed after hardening of the concrete and
For this project, the usual age of the testing was from completion of the curing period.
28-40 days. Since the concrete mix contained silica
fume and PFA, the RCPT was carried out at 60 days for CONCLUSION
three of the five cores with the other two cores were
tested at 28 days for prediction and indication purposes The Sungai Perai Bridge was efficiently designed and
similar to the seven days cube strength samples. constructed to a high degree of standard and finishes.
It was found that the average reduction in the The completed bridge is pleasing to the eye and also
coulomb values between 28 days and 60 days was serves its structural function. BEM

The Highland Towers Case

Against Ir. Wong Yuen Kean
T
he Board of Engineers Malaysia (BEM) has (c) had assisted/advised the Majlis Daerah Gombak
cancelled the registration (No. 1434) of Ir. Wong in the application for CFO as the drainage system
Yuen Kean for his involvement in The Highland was an integral part of the project; and
Towers’ collapse.
(d) had failed to exercise due care that the slope was
BEM came to the decision to cancel his registration at a reasonably stable.
hearing where three charges were brought against him.
(ii) In mitigation, Ir. Wong pleaded that:
Charge 1: For the drainage design and the construction
supervision of the drainage system, knowing and/or ought (a) from the completion of the towers to the collapse,
to have known that the whole of the drainage system had others may have constructed walls which made
not been completed, for advising and/or assisting in the the slope steeper, causing its collapse;
application to Majlis Daerah Gombak for the issuance
of the Certificate of Fitness and for Occupation and had (b) he had no previous charges against him;
hereby failed, refused and/or neglected to take full regard
of the public interest. (c) apart from the Highland Towers, he had at all
material time conducted his professional duty
Charge 2: For signing building/structural infrastructural based on his judgment and had never intended
plans for the purpose of application for the Certificate to compromise on safety;
of Fitness for Occupation although he did not design
nor supervise the earthworks, retaining walls, road and (d) he was not the sole person responsible for the
drainage works and had hereby failed, refused and/or collapse of the Towers; the court had decided that
neglected to take full regard of the public interest. he was only 10% liable for it;
Charge 3: For having failed to give due consideration (e) the Board considers the long stop liability as after
to the steep hill and slope directly behind the three some time others may change the surrounding of
apartments blocks, and/or failed to foresee the danger of a building; and
a landslide producing lateral load against the foundation
of the building, and/or failed to exercise due care to (f) cancellation of registration is too severe and
either design and construct a foundation to accommodate harsh.
the lateral load or ensure that the slope was reasonably
stable, and thereby had failed, and/or neglected to take
full regard of the public interest. Conclusion
At the hearing: BEM concluded that:
(i) BEM found Ir. Wong guilty on the grounds that he: (a) Ir. Wong’s misconduct showed that he had no regard
for public safety, which resulted in the death of 48
(a) did not dispute that he was responsible for the people, thus contravening Rule 26 of the Registration
drainage design; of Engineers Rules 1972; and
(b) admitted that the whole drainage system was not (b) cancelled his registration under Section 15 of the
complete; Registration of Engineers Act 1967. BEM
SR.HighlandTowers(36).indd 1 4/9/07 2:10:31 PM

THE INGENIEUR ENGINEERING & LAW 37
Demystifying
Direct Loss And
Expense Claims
By Ir. Harbans Singh K.S. 1,
I
t is a common occurrence for engineering/construction formulated to clear the situation particularly in the light of
contracts to be delayed for one reason or another. recent developments in other parts of the world so as to
This may be due to neutral events i.e. events beyond keep the local practitioners aware of the true position and
the contracting parties control 2 or due to some act of to dispel any myths or doubts currently permeating all
prevention 3 caused by the employer or his authorized facets of the practice; be these on part of the employers,
agent. More often than not, the contractor is the culpable contract administrators or the contractors. Bearing in
party or one or more of the sub-contractors is the cause mind the remit of this article, it should not be taken as
of the ensuing delay. For the former case, the employer an exhaustive treatise on the subject matter but a mere
is obliged under most contracts to grant the contractor introduction. Reference should be made to the relevant
extension of time; thereby fixing a new or revised date texts and authorities to augment and expand upon the
for the completion of the contract. The main aim of such skeletal outline given herebelow.
a process is to prevent the contract time from becoming
at large and thereby to preserve the employer’s rights TERMINOLOGY AND MEANING
vis-à-vis Liquidated and Ascertained Damages.
In the celebrated case of Minter v Welsh HTSO 6,
Whether the extension of time is granted prospectively the English Court of Appeal accepted that “direct loss
or retrospectively, the usual “knee-jerk” reaction from and/or expense” has the same meaning as common law
most contractors is to consequently make a claim for damages. A similar sentiment is expressed in the Building
direct loss and expense ensuing from the said delay. It is a Contract Dictionary 7 where at p 130 is stated:
commonly held belief by most contractors 4 that the grant
of any extension of time to their contract irrespective “After a good deal of controversy, it is now clearly
of the cause automatically entitles them to extra costs settled law that this phrase – or similar phrases such as
in the form of direct loss and expense claims. This is a ‘direct loss and/or damage’ – extends to those heads
myth which has been dismissed by many authorities; a of claims which would be recoverable at common
classic statement by Roger Knowles 5 which echoes the law as damages for breach of contract”.
commonly held position in the following words:
In the English case of Rees & Kirkby Ltd. v Swansea
“…. there is a common misconception in the City Council 8, the Court held, inter alia, that:
construction industry that once an extension of
time has been granted, there will be an automatic (a) The meaning of the word ‘direct’ in the expression
entitlement to the recovery of loss and expense. Under ‘direct loss and/or expense’ should permit recovery
most standard forms of contract, the entitlements to
extensions of time and payment of additional cost or
loss and expense are quite separate ……”
1. Director, HSH Consult Sdn. Bhd., B.E. (Mech) S’pore, LLB
The above preposition is supported by The Society of (Hons) London, CLP, DipICArb, P.E., C. Eng.
Construction Law’s Delay and Disruption Protocol 2002 2. E.g. force majeure, exceptionally inclement weather, etc.
3. E.g. Failure to give site possession in time, ordering additional
which, in clause 1.6.2 states: works, etc.
4. And Sub-contractors/Suppliers also.
“Entitlement to an EOT does not automatically lead to 5. “150 Contractual Problems and Their Solutions”, 2nd Edn. at
entitlement to compensation (and vice versa)” p 156.
6. [1980] 13 BLR.
7. D. Chappell, D. Marshall, V.P-Smith and S. Cavender [3rd
In view of the prevalence of such misconceptions Edn.].
in the local construction industry, this article has been 8. [1985] 5 Con L.R. 39.
E&L 37-44.indd 1 3/28/07 6:23:23 PM

38 ENGINEERING & LAW THE INGENIEUR
of damages flowing naturally in the usual course of exchange losses) and any other costs, loss or
things within the meaning of those words as used expense of whatsoever nature and howsoever
in the first limb of the rule in Hadley v Baxendale 9; arising. This percentage shall exclude interest
and payable pursuant to sub-clause 42.9(b)”.
(b) The distinction between ‘direct loss and/or expense’ Though the label “direct” or “indirect/ consequential”
and ‘indirect or consequential loss’ is the same is missing from the definition, prima facie, from the
distinction as that which has to be made whenever construction of the contents of the said definition,
common law damages are being considered. it purportedly encompasses both such losses and is
seemingly wide in its ambit.
The distinction between the terms “direct” and
“indirect or consequential” loss and/or expense was LEGAL BASIS
further revisited and restated by the English Court of
Appeal in British Sugar Plc. v NEI Power Plant Projects Where a party to a contract breaches the contract,
Ltd. 10 to the effect that 11: damages represent the most common remedy claimed
by the innocent party for such breach. Unlike the
“….. the proper way to examine this question was by equitable remedies of specific performance and
reference to Hadley v Baxendale (1854). In this case, injunctions, damages are awarded to the innocent party
the Court categorized damages under two headings as of right, subject only to exceptions such as mitigation
commonly referred to as the first leg and second and remoteness of damage 13. To determine how such
leg. The first leg deals with losses arising naturally damages may be awarded, at common law, two main
i.e. according to the usual course of things. By way principles of law are employed.
of contrast, the second leg covers the type of losses
which both parties had in mind when the contract The first of the said principles is that laid down in the
was entered into, but which were particular to the case of Robinson v Harmon 14 which, per Parke B, is to
contract, sometimes referred to as special damages. It the effect that:
was held that consequential damage is akin to special
damage …….” “…… the innocent party is entitled to be placed so far
as money can do it, in the same position as he would
In the Malaysian context there is a paucity of have been had the contract been performed ……”
authoritative pronouncements on the legal definitions of
such phrases; hence resort has to be made to the English This principle is lucidly explained by Chow Kok
case law (although those are of mere persuasive nature). Fong 15 as follows:
A recent attempt has been made in the CIDB Standard
Form of Contract For Building Works (2000 Edition) “The purpose of damages is therefore to restore to
where in Clause 1.1 12, the expression ‘Loss and Expense’ the plaintiff the value of his defeated contractual
has been defined as: expectation, in effect, the benefits or profits
which would have earned, but for the breach, and
“(a) the direct relevant costs of labour, Equipment, compensating him for the expenses caused by the
materials, or goods actually incurred on the site breach. Thus, there would be no premise for a claim,
in so far they would not otherwise have been if the cause of the plaintiff’s loss would have arisen
incurred and which were not and should not independently of the breach by the defendant. Nor
have been provided for by the contractor; and would there be any cause for a claim if a breach is
technical in nature and did not result in any loss or
(b) Costs of an overhead nature actually and injury for the plaintiff”
necessarily incurred on the Site but in either case
only in so far they would not otherwise have
been incurred and which were not and should
not have been provided for by the Contractor; 9. [1854] 9 Ex. 341
10. [1998] 87 BLR 42
and 11. R. Knowles, “150 Contractual Problems and Their Solutions’
[2nd Edn.] at p 201.
(c) the amount equivalent to the percentage named 12. Entitled ‘Definitions’.
in the Appendix of such cost referred to in (a) 13. See ‘Chesire, Fifoot and Furmston’s Law of Contract’ (2nd Edn.)
at p 636-637.
and (b) above, such amount shall be deemed 14. [1848] 1 Exch. 850 at 855.
to be inclusive of any profits, head office or 15. In “Law and Practice of Construction Contracts” (3rd Edn.) at
other administrative charges (including foreign p 133.
E&L 37-44.indd 2 3/28/07 6:23:23 PM

Hence, although the starting point is the rule in (a) The so called “direct” damages i.e. damages
Robinson v Harmon, this is subject to the premise that arising naturally, that is, according to the usual
the damages sought must not be remote; which brings course of things arising from the breach; and
the second principle of the rule in Hadley v Baxendale
16
into play. This rule stipulates 17: (b) “Indirect or Consequential” losses (or special
damages for any loss sustained) only if it can show
“When two parties have made a contract which that these are such that the other party knew at the
one of them has broken, the damages which the time of making the contract that the said losses or
other party ought to receive in respect of such damages were likely to result from the breach 23.
breach of contract should be such as may fairly and
reasonably be considered either arising naturally, The loss recoverable is subject to the proviso that such
i.e. according to the usual course of thing from such compensation is not to be given for any remote or indirect
breach of contract itself, or such as may reasonably loss or damage sustained as a result of the breach 24.
be supposed to have been in the contemplation of
both parties, at the time they made the contract, as The rules as to the recovery of damages by the
the probable result of the breach of it”. innocent party are further subjected to an additional
qualification in the sense that it is not permitted to recover
In summary, the rule in Hadley v Baxendale such damages which it could have taken reasonable
comprises two main limbs 18, i.e. steps to avoid or mitigate. This requirement is expressly
stipulated in the Explanation to Section 74 of the
(a) The first limb: damages arising naturally Malaysian Contracts Act 1950 in the following form:
i.e. according to the usual course of things from
such breach of contract itself (also called “direct” “In estimating the loss or damage arising from a breach
damages”); and of contract, the means which existed of remedying
the inconvenience caused by the non performance of
(b) The second limb: damages as may reasonably be the contract must be taken into account”.
supposed to have been in the contemplation of
both parties at the time they made the contract, as The rationale for the necessity of such mitigation is
the probable result of the breach of it (commonly adequately exemplified in the following passage from
referred to as “indirect or consequential” losses/ the locus classicus case of Kabatasan Timber Extraction
damages) v Chong Fah Shing 25.
The above rule has been codified in the Malaysian “It follows from the rule that damages are
Contracts Act 1950 19 in the form of Section 74 which compensatory only that one who has suffered loss
reads: from a breach of contract must take any reasonable
steps that are available to him to mitigate the extent
“(1) When a Contract has been broken, the party of damage caused by the breach. He cannot claim to
who suffers by the breach is entitled to receive, be compensated by the party in default for loss which
from the party who has broken the Contract, is really due not for the breach but to his own failure
compensation for any loss or damage caused to behave reasonably after the breach”.
to him thereby, which naturally arose in the
usual course of things from the breach, or
which the parties know, when they made the
contract, to be likely to result from the breach
16. [1854] 9 Ex. 341.
of it. 17. Per Anderson, B. See also “Engineering and Construction
Contracts Management: Law and Principles” at p 204.
(2) Such compensation is not to be given for any 18. or legs.
remote and indirect loss or damages sustained 19. Act 136 in particular vide Section 74(1) & (2).
20. See also Tham Cheow Toh v Associated Metal Smelters Ltd.
by reason of the breach 20 ….” [1972] 1 MLJ 17.
21. Ibid.
This fact has been expressly acknowledged by the 22. [1968] 1 MLJ 39.
local courts in a string of cases, notable of which are 23. Victoria Laundry (Windsor) Ltd. v Newman Industries Ltd.
[1949] 2 KB 528.
Tham Cheow Toh v Associated Metal Smelters Ltd. 21 24. H. Parsons (Livestock) Ltd. v Uttley Ingram & Co. Ltd. [1978]
and Teoh Kee Keong v Tambun Mining Co. Ltd. 22. QB 791 and Section 74(2) Contracts Act 1950.
Hence, under Section 74 an aggrieved party is entitled 25. [1969] 2 MLJ 6 quoting Anson’s Principles of English Law of
to the following damages or losses: Contract (22nd Edn.)
E&L 37-44.indd 3 3/28/07 6:23:24 PM

Accordingly, the innocent party is precluded from In a nutshell, therefore, the “extra-contractual” route
claiming loss or damage consequent to the defaulting would constitute either a fall-back position should a
party’s breach of contract where it could have avoided “contractual” claim be not tenable or it can augment
the loss or damage by taking reasonable steps under the amount that may be recovered pursuant to the
the prevailing circumstances 26. If the innocent party “contractual” claim; the ultimate decision being dictated
in fact manages to avoid or mitigate its loss or damage by the particular circumstances of the case and the
consequent to the defaulting party’s breach of contract, preference of the claimant.
the former cannot recover for such avoided or mitigated
loss or damage even though the steps it took were more Common Contractual Provisions
than could be reasonably required of it 27. However,
if such party by taking reasonable steps to avoid or A study of the common standard Forms of Conditions
mitigate the loss or damage consequent to the breach of Contract being employed in this country reveals
incurs further loss or expense, the innocent party can the existence of a plethora of contractual terms or
then recover such amount in full from the defaulting provisions governing the entitlements and procedural
party 28. requirements governing the subject of direct loss and
expense claims.
PROCEDURAL ISSUES
Clause 44 34
of the JKR Form 203A (rev. 10/83)
Nature of Claim stipulates:
A claim for direct loss and expense is usually made “If the regular progress of the Works or any part thereof
pursuant to and within the ambit of the contract itself; has been materially affected by reason as stated under
this being thus labelled as a “Contractual Claim” 29. For Clause 43 (c), (f) or (i) hereof (and no other), and the
such a claim to be tenable in law, it should arise from the Contractor has incurred direct loss and/or expense
contract itself and be made under a specific provision or for which he would not be reimbursed by a payment
terms of the contract 30. made under any other provision of this Contract,
then the Contractor shall within one (1) month of the
In the event that there is no such provision or term occurrence of such event of circumstance give notice
in the contract or should such a provision or term in writing to the S.O. of his intention to claim for such
be found to be invalid in law, this not necessarily direct loss or expense together with an estimate of the
extinguishes the contractor’s right to pursue the right to amount of such loss and/or expense, subject always
recover loss or damage as a cause of action for breach to Clause 48 hereof.”
of contract in the form of an “Extra-Contractual” or
“Common Law” Claim 31. Even without an express Clause 24.0 35 PAM 98 Form of Contract (With
retention of common law rights such a cause of action Quantities Edition) reads:
would not be lost. The only way such rights being
extinguished is through the inclusion of a very clearly “24.1 Application to Ascertain Loss and/or
worded and unambiguous clause in the contract to Expense
this effect 32. Hence, in the final analysis the “extra-
contractual” claim can serve as an alternative to a If and when the Contractor notifies the
“Contractual” claim; a sentiment echoed by Vinelott Architect in writing that the regular progress
J in the English case of London Borough of Merton v
Stanley Hugh Leach Ltd. 33 in relation to Clause 24(1)
of JCT 63 as follows:
26. See Khoo Then Sui v Chan Chiau Hee [1976] 1 MLJ 25 at
28.
“But the Contractor is not bound to make an 27. Gebruder Metal MannGmbH & Co. KG v NBR (London) Ltd.
application under Clause 24(1). He may prefer to [1984] 1 Lloyd’s Rep 614.
wait until completion of the work and join the claim 28. Wilson v United Counties (1920) 1 WLR 426.
29. or alternatively as “Ex-Contractu” claim.
for damages for breach of obligation to provide
30. e.g. Clause 44 JKR 203A (Rev. 10/83) Form.
instructions, drawings and the like in good time with 31. See London Borough of Merton v Stanley Hugh Leach Ltd.
other claims for breach of obligations under the (1986) 32 BLR 51.
contract. Alternatively, he can, as I see it, make a 32. See Strachan & Henshaw v Stein Industrie (UK) Ltd. (1998)
87 BLR 5 and Armitage v Nurse [1997] 2 All ER 705.
claim under Clause 24(1) in order to obtain prompt
33. (1986) 32 BLR 51.
reimbursement and later claim damages for breach of 34. Entitled “Loss and Expense Caused By Delays”.
contract, taking the amount awarded under Clause 35. Labeled “Loss and Expense Caused By Disturbance of Regular
24(1) into account”. Progress of the Works”.
E&L 37-44.indd 4 3/28/07 6:23:24 PM

of the Works or any part of it has been or is neither unreasonably distant from
likely to be materially affected and that he nor unreasonably close to the date
had incurred or is likely to incur direct loss on which it was necessary for him
and/or expense for which he would not be to receive them.
reimbursed by a payment under any other
provision of this Contract then the Architect 24.2(ii) the opening up for inspection of
or the Quantity Surveyor as instructed by the any work covered up or testing
Architect shall as and when necessary from of any work, materials or goods
time to time ascertain the amount of such loss in accordance with Clause
and/or expense which had been incurred by 6.3, including making good in
the Contractor, provided that: consequence of such opening up or
testing, unless the inspection or test
24.1(i) the Contractor’s application is made showed that the work, materials or
in writing as soon as it becomes or goods were not in accordance with
should be reasonably apparent to this Contract.
him that the regular progress of the
Works or any part of it had been or 24.2(iii) any discrepancy in or divergence
is likely to be affected; and between the Contract Drawings
and/or the Contract Bills.
24.1(ii) the Contractor submits together
with his application relevant
information substantiating his claim 24.2(iv) delay on the part of artists,
so as to enable the Architect or the tradesmen, or others engaged by
Quantity Surveyor as instructed by the Employer in executing work not
the Architect to form an opinion; forming part of this Contract.
and
24.2(v) the Architect’s instructions issued
24.1(iii) the Contractor upon request submit in regard to the postponement of
to the Architect or the Quantity any work to be executed under the
Surveyor as instructed by the provisions of this Contract.
Architect any other additional
details of loss and/or expense 24.2(vi) delay or failure by the Employer
as are reasonably necessary for to supply or provide materials and
ascertainment. goods which the Employer had
agreed to provide or supply for the
24.2 Circumstances Materially Affecting Progress Work.
of the Works
24.2(vii) failure of the Employer to give in
The Contractor is not entitled to loss and/or due time entry to or exit from the
expense except in accordance with the express site of the Works or any part thereof
provisions of the Contract. The following are through or over any land by way
circumstances materially affecting the regular of passage adjoining or connected
progress of the Works referred to in Clause to the site and in the possession
24.1: and control of the Employer in
accordance with the Contract
24.2(i) the Contractor not having received in Drawings and/or the Contract
due time the necessary instructions, Bills.
drawings, details or levels from
the Architect for which he had 24.2(viii) any act of prevention or breach of
specifically applied in writing contract by the Employer.
provided that such application
was made on a date which having 24.3 Ascertainment of Loss and/or Expense
regard to the Date for Completion
stated in the Appendix or any If and when the Contractor makes written
extension of time under Clause application within a reasonable time of it
23.0 or sub-clause 32.1 (iii) was becoming apparent that the progress of the
E&L 37-44.indd 5 3/28/07 6:23:25 PM

Work or any part of it has been affected as “in writing” to trigger the commencement of the
aforesaid, then the Architect or the Quantity claim process.
Surveyor as instructed by the Architect shall
ascertain the amount of such loss and/or The Standard Form provisions, though sharing a host
expense. The failure by the Contractor to of common features, do differ in their procedural
comply with the requirements of Clause 24.0 approaches. Some take the so-called “two-stage” 38
shall entitle the Architect or the Quantity view of the matter, whereby the contractor is first
Surveyor as instructed by the Architect to required to notify the Contract Administrator of
ascertain the quantum of such loss and/or his intention to make a claim for direct loss and/or
expense on the basis of information available expense followed by the subsequent justification
to them. or substantiation of the claim 39. Others adopt
the “Unitary or Single Stage” approach whereby
24.4 Amount Ascertained Added to Contract Sum the notification must be supported with enough
information or details to justify the claim 40.
Any amount so ascertained from time to time Whichever approach is stipulated, one must be
shall be added to the Contract Sum, and if mindful whether it is of mandatory or directory
an Interim Certificate is issued after the date nature, for should it be breached, the contractual
of ascertainment any such amount shall be consequences may be fatal to the claim. This is
added to the amount which would otherwise aptly summed-up by Roger Knowles in the following
be stated as due in such conditions.” words 41.
Similar provisions are contained in the other Standard “Whether the lack of a proper claims notice and
Forms e.g. CIDB Form 2000 Edn. (Clause 31 & 32), CIDB back-up details will result in a Contractor or Sub-
NSC Form (Clause 26), IEM Form CE1/89 (Clause 44), contractor losing an entitlement to additional
etc. though there is quite a variance in terms of content payment will depend on the wording of the
and detail. contract. Where the contract states that a notice
is a condition precedent then a lack of notice will
A thorough study of all the said provisions will reveal be fatal. The same would apply if the contract is
the following principal facets of the entitlements under silent on the matter …”
this head of the claim:
In the final analysis, the contractor should always
(a) The extent of the entitlements err on the side of caution even if the requirement,
prima facie, is of the directory nature, lest their
Save for the CIDB Form 2000 Edition, the rest of contractual claim is rendered invalid for procedural
the standard form provisions entitle the contractor non-compliance.
to mere “direct” loss and/or expense i.e. the first
limb 36 or leg of the rule in Hadley v Baxendale A further requirement stipulated in most contemporary
and Section 74(1) of the Malaysian Contracts Act Forms of Conditions of Contract 42 is for the
1950. Hence the amount of redress is curtailed and contractor to keep and submit adequate records
excludes the so-called “Indirect” or “Consequential” vis-à-vis the entitlement it is seeking. The effect of
losses. To this effect, such losses are confined to the such a requirement has been judicially examined
consequences of delay and disruptions pursuant in depth and lucidly summarized in the case of
to acts of prevention and not neutral events. Even Attorney General for the Falklands v Gordon Forbes
so, it is not a blanket right consequent to all acts Construction (Falklands) Ltd. (No. 2) 43 where it was
of prevention but only to certain stipulated acts as held that:
circumscribed within the ambit of the particular
provision 37.
36. See Ibid, Legal Basis.
(b) The procedure for application/ substantiation 37. See in particular Clause 44 of JKR 203A Form where it is
confined to acts stipulated under Clause 43(c), (f) or (i) only.
38. or “Two-Step”.
Contrary to popular belief among contractors, there 39. See for example Clause 32 CIDB Form (2000 Edn.), etc.
is no automatic dispensation of loss and/or expense 40. See for example, Clause 44 JKR 203 Form, Clause 24 PAM
upon the occurrence of the stipulated delaying or ‘98 Form, etc.
disruption events. On the other hand, there is an 41. “150 Contractual Problems and Their Solutions” (2nd End.) at
p 164.
express requirement in each and every provision in 42. See 32 CIDB Form (2000 Edn.), etc.
the said standard forms for the contractor to apply 43. (2003) 14 BLISS 8; (2003) BLR 280.
E&L 37-44.indd 6 3/28/07 6:23:25 PM

(i) Where the requirements of a contract set out the case in most of the local Standard Forms), then
a clear and ordered way of dealing with any the Contract Administrator has a reasonable time to
claim for additional payments, claims have to respond; what is reasonable being decided by the
be notified at the time they arise, contemporary Courts based on the particular circumstances of the
records have to be kept and regular accounts case 46. The Contract Administrator has to exercise
rendered 44; one of the three options available to him i.e. he
can either accept or approve the claim or reject
(ii) The whole contractual system is aimed at the it (with reasons) or request for more information.
early resolution of any queries at the time the He just cannot elect to keep quiet or indulge in
claim arises; “feet-dragging” on merely spurious grounds 47.
The Contract Administrator, being no stranger to
(iii) There is little difference between the words the contract cannot plead ignorance of the facts/
“contemporary” and “contemporaneous” i.e. information nor lack of authority. He has a right to
occurring at the same time. To constitute access all books, documents, papers or records in the
contemporary records, these must be prepared possession, custody or control of the contractor 48 in
at or about the time of the events which give rise so far as these relate to the claim and may instruct
to the claim; the contractor to furnish him with such further
information, records or details which he considers
(iv) Where there is no contemporary records, the are material to his decision making process 49. In
claim will fail; and a nutshell, he must not be an innocent by-stander
but take on a proactive role. If the contractor fails
(v) Where there are contemporary records to to comply to the Contract Administrator’s requests
support part of the claim, it may succeed on or instructions, it is incumbent for the latter to
that part of the claim which is supported by the nevertheless proceed with his assessment, valuation
contemporaneous records but not otherwise. If or opinion as he considers fair and reasonable under
however, the contemporary records are unclear the circumstances on the basis of the information
as to their meaning, verbal evidence will be available to him 50. Failure on his part to do so may
accepted to provide clarification. open the employer to claims of breach of contract
from the contractor and expose himself to possible
It suffices to say that contemporaneous records are a causes of action in breach of contract and/or the tort
pre-requisite for the proper evaluation or assessment of negligence from the employer 51.
of the contractor’s application. Hence, it is incumbent
for the contractor to keep adequate records which (d) Payment of the Certified Amount
are timeously made, adequate for the purposes of
substantiating the claim and in addition meeting Having established the contractor’s entitlements and
the requirements as to accuracy and relevancy. In their quantum, it is pertinent for these to be remitted
this respect, there should be no compromise as to the contractor expeditiously; a fact conveniently
the very substratum of the contractor’s claim rests overlooked by many local employers. The bulk of the
on his records made in furtherance to his cause of local Standard Forms of Conditions of Contract oblige
action whether premised in contract or under the the Contract Administrator to certify the amount
common law. due to the contractor following the assessment and
(c) Assessment and Award Requirements
Provided that the contractor complies with the 44. See R. Knowles, “150 Contractual Problems and Their
Solutions” (2nd End.) at p 160.
requirements pertaining to the notification and 45. To whom the duty of assessment and recommendation is
substantiation of the claim provisions, upon receipt normally delegated.
of the said claim it is imperative for the Contract 46. See Lion Engineering Sdn. Bhd. V Pauchuan Development
Administrator 45 to forthwith carry out its obligations Sdn. Bhd. [1999] 4 AMR 3315.
47. Which appears to be the most common practice on the local
diligently and promptly. Where a particular time scene.
frame is stipulated in the contract for the due 48. See Sub-clause 32.4(a) CIDB Form (2000 Edn.).
resolution of the same, then it is mandatory for 49. See Sub-clause 32.2 CIDB Form (2000 Edn.).
this to be effected. Otherwise it can be deemed 50. See Clause 32.6 CIDB Form (2000 Edn.).
51. As “Mal-Administration’ of the contract. See also Ir.
in law that there is no objection to the claim and it Harbans Singh K.S. “Engineering and Construction Contracts
be given due effect to. In situations where no such Management: Commencement and Administration’ at p 274
period is expressly stipulated in the contract (as is to 280.
E&L 37-44.indd 7 3/28/07 6:23:26 PM

valuation exercise and include it in the subsequent the engineering and construction industry. In the final
Interim Payment Certificate 52. This ensures that analysis, when the mist is cleared, it is apparent that
the contractor is paid in a timely fashion. Should the right approach to such claims is one premised on
the ascertainment of the rightful amount due be the essential ingredients of common sense and good
delayed for any reason beyond the reasonable professional practice. Be that as it may, direct loss
control of the Contract Administrator 53, then such and/or expense claims should not be daunting to a
entitlements be ultimately established in the Final professional practitioner but should be part and parcel
Account; the Contract Sum be adjusted accordingly of realities facing the industry. BEM
and the amount included in the Final Certificate.
Though such practice is not encouraged as it is
an aberration of professionalism, nevertheless; it REFERENCES
acts as a last resort measure to compensate the
contractor before the contract is finally closed-off. • Andrew B.L. Phang, Chesire, Fifoot and Furmston's
Whether the contractor is entitled thereby to any Law of Contract (2nd Edn.), Butterworths.
interest accrued on the outstanding amount is a
moot point 54. • Carnell, N.J., Causation and Delay In Construction
Disputes (2nd Edn.), Blackwell Publishing.
(e) Consequences of Default
• Chappell, D., Building Contract Dictionary [4th Edn.],
Where the contractor’s default renders the contractual Blackwell Publishing.
claim invalid, it has been established in the previous
discussion 55 that it may merely extinguish the loss • Chappell, D., Marshall, D., V P-Smith and S.
of right under the contract only. It may not affect Cavender Building Contract Dictionary [3rd Edn.],
his right to recover such loss as damages for breach Blackwell Publishing.
of contract premised on the basis of an “extra-
contractual” claim unless the contract expressly • Chow Kok Fong, Law and Practice of Construction
excludes such rights in clear and unambiguous Contracts, (3rd Edn.), Thomson/Sweet & Maxwell
terms. Hence, much depends on the particular Asia.
wording of the relevant provisions of the parties’
contract. Nevertheless, even if such provisions deny • Davison, P., Evaluating Contract Claims, Blackwell
the contractor of his “extra-contractual” rights, his Publishing.
final resort would be to pursue his entitlement on
an “ex-gratia” basis; a course of action well beyond • Ir. Harbans Singh K.S., Engineering and Construction
the ambit of this paper. Contracts Management, Lexis/Nexis.
• Knowles, R., 150 Contractual Problems and Their

CONCLUSION Solutions (2nd End.), Blackwell Publishing.
The invocation of direct loss and/or expense claims is • Pickavance, K (1997), “Delay and Disruption
a mantra frequently on the lips of many a contractor or in Construction Contracts” Informa Publishing
sub-contractor attempting to turn a loss making contract Group.
into a financial coup de grace. More often than not it
is a result of an after-thought or the ironing out of the • Sundra Rajoo, The Malaysian Standard Form of
contractual kinks into a financial bottom-line inked in Building Contract (2nd Edn.), Malayan Law Journal.
a hue of blue rather than the reality of red. It proffers
contractors with visions of financial gain but on the • The Society of Construction Law Delay and
contrary fills employers and Contract Administrators Disruption Protocol 2002, SCL.
alike with trepidation and fear. Much can be said of
the said species of claims, which has, and continues to
permeate all levels of the industry and has subsumed its 52. See Clause 32.5 CIDB Form (2000 Edn.), Clause 24.4 PAM
various facets with awe and fear. Despite the shroud ‘98 Form ,etc.
of mystery encasing such claims, upon an objective 53. For example due to the contractor’s failure to substantiate,
etc.
analysis, which this short paper has attempted to do, its
54. Although, in the absence of an express contract provision to
various myths and misconceptions can be progressively the like effect, is most likely to be fatal to a contractual claim
unravelled to reveal a basic core that differs no more for the same.
than the other heads of claim entitlements that plague 55. See discussion under ‘Legal Basis’.
E&L 37-44.indd 8 3/28/07 6:23:27 PM

46 FEATURE THE INGENIEUR
Development Of
Automation Technology
For The Malaysian
Agricultural Sector
By Ir. Wan Ishak Wan Ismail, Professor and Head, Agricultural Robotics Programme,
SMART Farming Technology Laboratory, Institute of Advanced Technology
The Malaysian agricultural sector is at a crucial stage. There is a serious

shortage of skilled agricultural workers and agriculture has to expand
into marginal lands. Then there are factors such as lack of appropriate
technology, low efficiency and productivity resulting in high cost of
production. Thus, to shape the agro-based (agricultural and plantation)
industries in Malaysia, application of engineering and mechanisation
technologies must be introduced immediately as major aspects to
agricultural modernisation.
The agricultural robot systems, computer control system, camera

vision, unmanned tractor, online harvesting robot and gantry system
were studied, designed and tested. With the use of computer control
software, interface hardware, valves and actuators, the prototype robot
is able to move the manipulators to harvest and collect agricultural
products. Machine vision for the agricultural robot is able to identify
the object to be picked and harvested. Tractor equipped with sensors
and controllers enable the tractor to operate automatically. Wireless
networking devices with communication camera and communication
software enable the operator to control the unmanned mobile harvesting
robot through the web. Robots were also developed for the gantry
system.
D
eveloping countries with technology has not been widely
agriculture as their main adopted in Malaysia.
economy should follow the Lower produc tion in the
examples of countries like the US and agricultural sector is due to the
Japan in successfully modernising impact of industrialisation, which
and mechanising their agricultural causes the transfer of resources such Robot in transplanting
sector. Developed countries are as manpower, land and capital out
able to achieve high agricultural of the agricultural sector into the industries. Mechanisation is thus
production simply because they manufacturing sector. The rapid considered as the crucial factor in
employ engineering technology and expansion of the manufacturing the industrialisation process. It has
ICT in their agricultural sector. For sector has, however led to labour released agricultural workers to
industrialised countries, technologies shortages in the agricultural sector. industries, thus contributing to the
based on mechanical power and In spite of these, we must continue nation’s industrial expansion. Just like
other advanced inputs have made to push forward our industrialisation manufacturing, the agricultural sector
farming much more successful. p r o g r a m m e w i t h o u t d e ny in g requires investment and technological
This level of agricultural production the impor tance of agro -based expertise to transform.
F.Dev.ofAutomation Tech 46-54.in1 1 3/29/07 5:37:29 PM

THE INGENIEUR FEATURE 47
The Agriculture and Agro-based

Industries Minister said that the
manpower needs for farming have
to be addressed to revolutionise the
agriculture sector. The country needs
more young people to get involved
in agriculture, not the traditional
way of farming but modern and
mechanised agriculture. To shape
the agricultural and plantation
industries in Malaysia, application
of engineering and mechanisation
technologies in agriculture must
be implemented immediately and
continuously. For several decades,
Malaysia was the largest producer of
agricultural products especially palm Straw baler
oil and rubber. This makes Malaysia
a model to emulate for the Third technologies and production process mechanisation. Mechanisation or the
World countries seeking information to increase productivity will free use of new technology will reduce
and technology relating to our labour, which is very important for manpower, lighten the burden,
agricultural activities. Presently, the both agricultural and manufacturing increase productivity as well as make
Malaysian agricultural sector is at sectors. agricultural jobs more interesting.
a crucial stage. The production of Another problem faced by the Engineering inputs in the agricultural
our agricultural commodities and agricultural and plantation sector is sector are very essential.
our primary commodities, namely the unavailability of suitable land.
oil palm, rubber and cocoa, is very About 35% or 11.5 million hectares Farm Mechanisation
labour intensive. The contribution of Malaysia’s total land area, is
from technological improvements, suitable for agriculture. About 80% of To a farm business, engineering
entrepreneurship and the quality total cropped land is under rubber, oil technology simply means
of labour and capital in Malaysia palm, cocoa and coconut, and about mechanisation of agricultural activities
are relatively low compared to 10% is under rice. With the rapid to increase the productivity per farm
other countries in a similar stage of pace of industrialization and the high worker and to change the character of
development. population growth in the country, farm work, making it less arduous and
more and more agricultural lands more attractive. The ultimate reason
Problem Of Labour, Land that are close to the urban centers are for mechanisation differs between
And Technology being converted into industrial lands countries. For example, countries
and residential lands. Agriculture like Japan and Republic of Korea
There is a serious shortage of has to expand into lands that have introduced mechanisation in order
skilled agricultural worker especially inherent problems and constraints to increase productivity, thereby
in the oil palm, rubber and cocoa to the application of mechanisation improving both rural incomes and
plantations. Labour shortage has technologies. Therefore there is a making labour available for industrial
caused an influx of foreign workers, need to optimize the use of land development. Presently, Taiwan and
most of whom do not have any resources. This calls for a change Malaysia are facing acute shortages
working experience in plantations. to incorporate a higher level of of rural labour caused by more
Labour problems are said to be mechanisation technology inputs. attractive wages and benefits outside
one of the contributing factors for Inadequate appropriate the agricultural sector. The purpose
the higher cost of production and technology input is one major of mechanisation in Malaysia is to
deteriorating agro-based industries. problem currently faced by the increase agricultural production, save
The reluctance of local workers to agricultural and plantation industry time, overcome the labour problem,
work in the plantation sector has in Malaysia.Technology input will increase farmers’ income and attract
resulted in the importation of foreign reduce the dependence of labour and local people to get involved in
workers. The country’s 1.2 million thus increase the utilization of natural agriculture. There are many who
farmers should also go into extensive resources. The effect of labour believe that the plantation sector just
farming and use modern technology. shortage can be reduced by increasing did not make enough attempts to
The increasing adoption of modern productivity of existing labour through improve mechanisation and invest in

technology that would have enabled fruits and leaves colour, terrain, and more interesting. Most important
less people to do more. To shape the other adverse conditions. The use of all, it will reduce the manpower
agro-based industry in Malaysia, new of sensing technology to endow shortage problem.
technology such as automation and machines with a greater degree of
robotics, information technology, intelligence in dealing with their Development Of Automation
nano-technology, space technology, environment is an active topic of In Agriculture
and alternative energy technology research and development in the
must be developed and introduced. robotics field. In 1997, a portable agricultural
Automation is a technology The detection of objects with a robot was designed and fabricated
concerned with the application significant biological variability and at UPM using a portable hydraulic
of mechanical, electronic and in complex biological environments, system or the hydraulic system from a
computerised systems to operate in most cases, is under natural tractor as the power source. This robot
and control production. Complete lighting conditions. The design of was initially designed and fabricated
automation is a synthesis of five specific actuators and end-effectors to harvest oil palm FFB. This robot
functions, namely sensing and are adapted to various constraints was automated using computer
recognition, programmed memory, including the fragility of biological control system namely: Hydraulic
process memory, ability to make objects they have to handle, the Simulation Software (Hydraulism),
decision and physical control. For speed, precision, maintenance and Genie Software and Programmable
more than 30 years, robots have price constraints in agricultural uses. Logic Control (PLC). At the same
mostly been used to paint, weld It is desirable that the robot has some time, a pneumatic control robot
and shift-boxes around in factories, degree of intelligence in recognizing arm was designed and fabricated to
particularly in the automotive industry. the situation of its surrounding. The harvest and collect lighter produce
However, the trend nowadays is to agricultural robot often needs to work such as cocoa. The objective of the
apply robotic technology for other within an unstructured, harsh and project was to design a pneumatic
purposes. Robotic technology in the changing environment. circuit using pneumatic simulation
agricultural and plantation industry is In the agricultural sector, robots software or pneusim and PLC, to
still new and still under research and are used to perform transplanting integrate with the robot arm.
development. Robotic technology of seedling, pruning, harvesting, The first major task of a fruit picking
for the agricultural sector needs sheep shearing, meat processing and and harvesting robot is to design and
to be derived from an integrated picking of agricultural produce. The fabricate the suitable end effectors.
understanding of agriculture and main area of application of robots is Each particular agricultural produce
engineering. Generally speaking, the still in the harvesting stage. With the has a peculiar harvesting method,
traditional or industrial robot is good development of agricultural robots, thus requiring specialized end-
at handling object whose physical the hard and labour intensive picking effectors (fingers, cutters or pickers).
properties are regular and static. The and harvesting of agriculture produce Various end-effectors or robot fingers
agriculture robot, however, needs to can be made easier, simpler and were designed and fabricated. End-
be able to handle growing biological
objects. The properties of growing
plants and animals are dynamic.
The complexity of designing and
developing agricultural robots are
that they have to withstand bad
weather, dust and other adverse
conditions as compared to industrial
robots that are housed in a controlled
environment.
A robotic system is related to the
type of task, to their environment
and to the user and production
conditions. These factors lead the
designers of robots for agriculture
to specific constraints. Agricultural
robots must satisfy certain conditions
to be able to operate efficiently.
Several factors have to be considered
such as weather, type and state of Cocoa harvesting robot

the robot to move the robot arm.

This software has the advantage
over the ‘Genie’ control system. It
does not require installation of limit
switches and electrical wiring along
the robot arm.
A harvesting operation agricultural
robot using PLC as controller was
then carried out. The PLC consists
of computer hardware, which is
programmed to simulate the operation
of the individual logic and sequence
elements that might be contained
in a bank of relays, timers, counters
and other hard-wired components.
Smart chemical sprayer The PLC’s operator essentially draws
the lines and devices of ladder
effectors with grippers were designed Development Of Computer diagrams. The resulting drawing in
specifically to collect the oil palm Control System the computer takes the place of the
FFB on the ground and carry them to external wiring required for control
the trailer. Another development was A computer control system for the of a process. During the operation,
the design of the two-finger gripper agricultural robot was introduced with an output was developed from the
with a cutting tool specifically to grip an application of ‘Genie Software’ PLC to solenoid valve. This electrical
and cut the oil palm frond and FFB to automate the movement of the signal controls the ON/OFF switch
from the tree. The cutting tool was cranes or robot arms (Wan Ishak of the solenoid valve. The solenoid
mounted at the end of the gripper and Zohadie, 1999). Basically, the valve directs the flow of fluid into
(Rahimi, 1998). operator inserts the co-ordinates of and out of the actuators. Positional
In 1999, a study was carried out the oil palm bunch position into the correction was made by the PLC and
to design and fabricate an oil palm computer and the ‘Genie Software’ fed into the solenoid valve.
frond cutter using string cutter driven as the control element will process
by hydraulic motor (Noor Azmi, the input data and give instruction Development Of Vision System
1999). The string was attached on to the robot arm to pick the oil
pulleys along the mainframe, run by palm FFB. The final results show the Human beings have five senses,
high-speed hydraulic motor. During concept of computer control system namely vision, hearing, smell, taste
the same year, the hydraulic driven in loading FFB to replace manual and touch. It is said that vision is
circular blade attached to the end of loading was successfully developed so important that it can account
the effector was designed, fabricated with the Genie software. for more than 90% of the total
and tested. The cutter was able to cut A not her computer cont rol information obtained from all the
the oil palm fronds and FFB during system using Hydraulsim (Hydraulic senses put together. Vision system is
harvesting. Another study was carried Simulation Software) to automate a new field in agricultural application,
out in 1999 to design and fabricate the control of the agricultural especially for fruit handling. We
the claw-cutting concept for oil robot was designed and tested. cannot detect fruit quality just by its
palm harvester. Cutting operation The hydraulsim require the user to shape or pattern. One type of fruit
was accomplished by blades of design the hydraulic circuit similar to has variations in shape and pattern
equal sizes moving in the opposite the arrangement of the actuators or but may have the same level of
directions like the scissors (Mariyati, robot arm of the agricultural robot. quality.
1999). Hydraulic system was used as This computer controlled software The principal optical properties
a power source - driven at low speed also requires the user to design the of agricultural produce are light
by a high torque motor. The design electrical circuit or ladder diagram reflectance and light transmittance.
and fabrication of end-effectors to to enable the movement of the robot The reflectance of coloured objects
harvest cocoa pod was done using arm. In order to automate the robot, will var y for light at dif ferent
the gripper and scissors. The robot the I/O interface card will receive the wavelengths. One technique which
fingers grip the cocoa pod, and input signal from the computer and was used for automatic colour sorting
another pneumatic cylinder pushed transmit it to the relay card whereby of peppers was to measure the amount
the scissors to cut the stem of the the relay interface card then sends of light reflected from the fruits of
cocoa pod (Anand, 1998). the signal to the solenoid valve of different colour levels at particular

wavelengths or combinations of on the RGB (Red, Green and Blue) affect the scene such as weather
wavelengths. Wan Ishak (1979) found intensity, range and average. In conditions, colour of leaves and
out that the pepper designated as the study, electrical signals were their position according to the fruit
“green colour” showed a reflectance produced through the parallel port and light contrast.
range of 500 to 560 nm wavelengths of the computer when the camera Researchers have tried to use
and “red colour” at reflectance range detected the ‘ripe’ category of oil additional cameras to obtain the
of 620 to 720 wavelengths. Peppers palm FFB. 3D information, using light source
showed an increase in reflectance The colour vision system was to illuminate the scene, using
responses at wavelengths of 660 e nhance d by d evelo ping t h e photoelectric sensors and filters to
nm as they matured, indicating a simulation of the kinematical obtain the 3D information. Mohd.
decrease in chlorophyll absorption. manipulat o r o f t h e r o b o t o n Hudzairi (2003) developed the ‘robot
The EG & G Model 550 - Radiometer/ calculated workspace. When the eye’ system for the robot to predict
Photometer System was used to CCD camera detects the red object actual distance of the target object.
measure the optical properties of of target, the system will calculate The ‘robot eye’ used WebCam
peppers. The unit consisted of the the image plane by pixel units. digital cameras for 3D co-ordinated
550 - 1 Radiometer/Photometer and When an image is grabbed, it will measurement that displayed the real
550 -2 Multiprobe Detector. be processed in order to check the environment in the user interface
Research on machine vision and presence of the target. Its distance that was created using Visual
image processing was carried out so from the camera will be measured Basic Version 6. Videogrammetry
that the robot arm can identify the using histogram density. A signal will technique and triangulation method
object without the help of human be sent to the controller to calculate were used to measure distance of
brain and eyes. The Sony CCD the joint angles of the robot arm. the target object. By ‘clicking’ on
single chip camera was used to grab The difficulty encountered with the image displayed on the user
images of interest. An Intel Pentium robot vision involves controlling interface (UI), the 3-dimensional
166 MHz processor with a memory the environment or the objects to (3D) distance of the target from
of at least 16 MB RAM was used be manipulated. The variations robot arm will be generated and
for processing the data from this of lighting intensity from time to sends a signal to the robot to grip
image. When the camera viewed the time and place to place, cause the selected target. The developed
object, the Mill Intellicam grabbed difficulty in developing a complete system was able to generate 3D
the image and saved it in the CPU. vision system in terms of automatic coordinates of the object based on
Matrox Inspector was then used to recognition of the object’s colour. information given by the video and
analyze the intensity of RGB color The use of cameras failed to picture scene. These 3D coordinates
of the image. The data was then obtain sufficient information were applied in a mathematical
compiled in the C++ programme about the fruit, mainly in a natural model approach for the movement
to determine the composition of environment, where many factors of robot manipulator simulation.
colour of the fruits.The first study on
camera vision at UPM was carried
out in early 1997. This project was
on the camera vision to identify and
recognize the colours of oil palm FFB
(Abdul Malek, 1997). The objectives
of the study were to differentiate
and analyze the colours between
the oil palm FFB, to differentiate
between the colours of oil palm FFB
with other objects available in the
oil palm plantation, to identify the
maturity of the fruits and to develop
a computer programme to process
data related to the colour of the fruit.
Experiments were carried out in the
laboratory environment, where the
light intensity was controlled. The
results showed that the ripe category
could be differentiated from other
categories of specimens depending Commercial melon farm

THE INGENIEUR FEATURE 53
Development Of is able to see the target (FFB) from

Unmanned Tractor his screen and eventually command
the robot arm. The operator directs
The unmanned tractor control the robot arm to the target (fruit)
system was developed using a PC- with the help of CCD Camera
based control system (Muhamad from a distance. When the tractor
Saufi, 2004). A SST-2400 Radio reaches a desired tree, the operator
Modem handles the signal transfer can use the mouse to click on the
from the computer to the tractor. target on the video screen (both
The Radio Modem communicates Rice combine video scene) to get the target or fruit
with the computer by using the RS- coordinates. The programmes direct
232 serial port. The Radio Modem predetermined map. The map was the mobile harvesting robot to move
that is set as receiver receives the scaled to the area of 15cm X 15cm, automatically to grab and cut the
signal and transfers it to the ICP which represents 150m X 150m of fruit. (Lim Y.J., 2004).
Modules via RS-485 bus. the field area. In the Monitoring and
In this research, a Kubota Simulation layer, the user can select Development Of
L3010 hydrostatic drive tractor was to direct the tractor by entering Gantry System
modified to automate the on/off of the grid coordinates manually. The
the engine, forward and backward user can also monitor the speed, Development of an automated
gear system, the brake system and tyre turning angle and the travelling gantry system fulfills the vision of
the steering system. The Kubota distance. smart farming for the future. With
L3010 was equipped with sensors The unmanned tractor control the introduction of the gantry
(Ultrasonic, range, magnetic, limit system’s GUI is provided with ‘Auto’ robot, farms can be managed by
switch, encoder and potentiometer) mode and ‘Remote’ mode operation. a single operator from the control
and the controller to acquire the In ‘Auto’ mode the user just needs to room in a building. The gantry
data of the surrounding information key in the co-ordinates and initiate system is a vehicle based on the
from the sensors. A range sensor operation, while in ‘Remote’ mode idea of controlled traffic systems
was placed parallel to the front the user can use the arrow button and automated operation for
tires to sense the obstacle, which is to direct the tractor to the target co- land preparation, planting, crop
parallel to the tyres. The ultrasonic ordinate. The GUI also simulates maintenance and harvesting of
sensor provides the angles and the the movement of the tractor on agricultural products. A gantry robot
distances of the obstacle to the the predetermined map, and at the has three linear axes of motions
controller. The controller will use same time monitor the rate of the and co-ordinates. The first co-
the information from the sensors acceleration and the turning angle. ordinate X represents the left and
to make a decision to avoid the If the controller senses an obstacle right motions. The Y-axis represents
obstacle. In this project, a Graphical in its path, the controller will send the forward and backward motions
User Interface (GUI) was developed the information to the tractor system and the Z axis is used to depict
using Visual Basic Programme. to avoid the obstacle. The condition up and down motions. Different
From the developed GUI, the user of the obstacle will appear in a types of attachments or agricultural
can control and monitor the data message box of the GUI. implements can be mounted to the
from the tractor remotely by using Additional research was carried gantry in order to perform various
a Laptop computer. The GUI has out to use a wireless LAN interface agricultural operations. The quick
two layers namely Control panel designed to remotely operate mobile and simple attachment of different
layer and Monitoring and Simulation harvesting robots in the agriculture implements allow all the operations
layer. field through the Internet. This from land preparation to harvesting
The Control panel layer is used work presents a concept where of crops to be carried out easily. The
to start and switch off the tractor the operator directs the robot automated chilli transplanter gantry
engine, control the gear engagement, arm to the Fresh Fruit Bunch (FFB) robot and automated mushroom
control the accelerator, control the through the Internet with the help harvester were successfully designed
brake system and also display the of wireless network devices and and developed at UPM.
obstacles condition. The user can CCD communication camera. The The mushroom harvester
start the engine system by pressing operator in the office is able to guide attached to the end-effectors consists
the “Space bar” key. The Monitoring and control the mobile harvesting of a cutter to cut the mushroom,
and Simulation layer helps the robot in the plantation through vacuum cup to open and close the
user to direct the tractor to the the wireless LAN from a distance. cover of the polypropylene bags
selected position as displayed in the Through the Internet, the operator containing the mushroom and the

drill to clean the root inside the agricultural machines are among and labour intensive agricultural
polypropylene bags. The automated the new technology that must operations can be made easier, more
chilli transplanter was designed and be introduced in the agro-based interesting and most important of all
developed to dig the hole, pick the industries. will solve manpower problems. BEM
plant from plug trays and put the Our own efforts at UPM include
plant into the planting hole. The the development of hydraulic and
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
functionality of auger and gripper pneumatic control robot, Computer
for drilling, seeding and planting Control System for actuators,
The author is indebted to MOSTI
operations were successfully carried camera vision, unmanned control
for the financial support in
out using PLC. tractor, on-line harvesting robot
carrying out the various research
and development of gantry system.
projects. The co-operation and
Development Of Automation and robotic technology
assistance from many colleagues
An Automated Irrigation in agriculture, especially in Malaysia
and students involved in the
Control Structure is still new and still under research
projects at ITMA and the Faculty
and development. It is hoped with
of Engineering UPM are highly
An automated system for the introduction of automation in
appreciated.
Constant Head Orifice (CHO) the agro-based industry, the hard
Off-take Structure was developed
for rice irrigation management by REFERENCES
automating gate operation through
interfacing with a Supervisory and Abdul Malik Abdul Hamid (1997. Camera Vision to Recognize and
Control Data Acquisition (SCADA) Identify the Quality Oil Palm Fruit Bunch. Final Year Student Project.
system. The benefits that can Faculty of Engineering, UPM.
be derived from the automation
system include fast response and Anand s/o Subramaniam (1998). Design Of Flexible Robotic Arm
computerised control of water For Collection Of Cocoa Pod. Final Year Student Project. Faculty Of
supply, easy and efficient operation, Engineering, UPM.
well-regulated irrigation water
supply, easy and low maintenance, Bouketir Omrane (1999). Camera Vision Interfacing 3D of Agriculture
and an Internet enabled system. Robot. M.Sc. (Agricultural Automation And Robotic). M.Sc. Thesis,
Universiti Putra Malaysia.
Conclusion
Lim Yu Jian (2004). Monitoring and Controlling of Mobile Harvesting
Lower production in the Robot Through Wireless. LAN. M.Sc. Thesis. UPM.
agricultural sector was attributed
to the impact of industrialisation, Mariyati bt Mat Soad (1998). Evaluation and Modification of Automated
which causes the transfer of Oil Palm Harvester. Final Year Student Project. Faculty of Engineering,
resources such as manpower, land UPM.
and capital out of the agricultural
sector. Farm mechanisation has Mohd Hudzairi Hj Razali (2003). Development of Virtual Reality System
been considered the critical factor for Oil Palm FFB Robot. M.Sc, Thesis, Universiti Putra Malaysia.
in the industrialisation process. It
has released agricultural workers to Muhamad Saufi Kassim (2003). Design and Development of an
industries, thus contributing to the Autonomous System for Agricultural Tractor. M.Sc. Thesis UPM.
nation’ industrialised expansion.
Then there are factors such as lack Noor Azme Omar (1998). Design and Fabrication of Oil Palm Frond
of appropriate technology, low Cutter using Hydraulic Powered Strings. Final Year Student Project.
efficiency and productivity. Increasing Faculty of Engineering, UPM.
labour productivity through the
introduction of mechanisation and Rahimi Abd Rahim. (1998). Design and Fabrication of Oil Palm FFB
automation can increase agricultural Cutter and Harvester using Hydrausim Control System. Final Year Student
productivity. Automation systems, Project. Faculty of Engineering, UPM.
artificial intelligence, dynamic and
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56 ENGINEERING NOSTALGIA THE INGENIEUR
Kuala Kangsar
Photo Courtesy of Ir. Ishak Abdul Rahman
Kuala Kangsar in 1967, floods in the town were common before the construction of the Temengor Dam
Kuala Kangsar today
EngNostalgia 56.indd 1 3/29/07 5:36:19 PM

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Vol 33 BEM Mar07-May07 (Agriculture)

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LEMBAGA JURUTERA MALAYSIA

BOARD OF ENGINEERS MALAYSIA

KDN PP11720/1/2007 ISSN 0128-4347 VOL.33 MARCH - MAY 2007 RM10.00

BEM3cover.indd 1 3/28/07 5:58:00 PM

contents Volume 33 March - May 2007

11 Biotech Crops: The Next Revolution In Agriculture 32

15 Opportunities For Engineers In The Malaysian

19 Edible Bird’s Nest: Swiftlet Farming In

23 Smart Farming Technology Research For

36 The Highland Towers Case Against

Engineering & Law

Contents.indd 1 3/28/07 6:21:40 PM

There is a big potential to develop the agro-food

Editor Dato’ Sri Prof. Ir. Dr. Wahid bin Omar

Message.indd 1 4/9/07 11:28:31 AM

Winner of The IStructE Supreme

Publication Calendar for Structural Designer : Sub Contractor :

to accept articles relevant to

Please contact the Editor

June 2007: WASTE Available At : Cawangan Pengurusan & Perolehan Harta,

Annc&PubCal(4).indd 1 3/30/07 12:15:12 PM

The New Agriculture:

CF.NewAgriculture 6-10.indd 1 3/29/07 5:29:09 PM

CF.NewAgriculture 6-10.indd 2 3/29/07 5:29:11 PM

worth RM2 billion. Malaysia’s

Agro-based Food Industries

CF.NewAgriculture 6-10.indd 3 3/29/07 5:29:12 PM

halal food parks to ensure the

Commercial poultry farm

What we have achieved so far is Handling And Storage Of Halal

CF.NewAgriculture 6-10.indd 4 3/29/07 5:29:13 PM

CF.NewAgriculture 6-10.indd 5 3/29/07 5:29:14 PM

CF.BiotechCrops(11-14).indd 1 3/29/07 5:27:12 PM

CF.BiotechCrops(11-14).indd 2 3/29/07 5:27:13 PM

CF.BiotechCrops(11-14).indd 3 3/29/07 5:27:14 PM

The success of this research work developing seeds or that could

CF.BiotechCrops(11-14).indd 4 3/29/07 5:27:14 PM

CF.Oppotunities4Eng 15-18.indd 1 3/30/07 12:06:19 PM

CF.Oppotunities4Eng 15-18.indd 2 3/29/07 5:31:54 PM

classical examples of pollution Secondly, at the policy level,

CF.Oppotunities4Eng 15-18.indd 3 3/29/07 5:31:55 PM

No. Elements Level

7.3.1 Untreated sewage water is prohibited for use. Major must

7.4.1 Water should be delivered from sustainable sources. Encouraged

8.8.1 Spray equipment shall be suitable. Minor must

8.10.3 All shelving (pesticide storage) shall be of non-absorbent material. Encouraged

9.2.1 Packaging material shall be stored to avoid contamination… Minor must

Source: MALAYSIAN FARM CERTIFICATION SCHEME FOR GOOD AGRICULTURAL PRACTICE

CF.Oppotunities4Eng 15-18.indd 4 3/29/07 5:31:55 PM

Edible Bird’s Nest:

CF.EdibleBird'sNest 19-22.indd 1 3/29/07 5:27:47 PM

CF.EdibleBird'sNest 19-22.indd 2 3/29/07 5:27:48 PM

CF.EdibleBird'sNest 19-22.indd 3 3/29/07 5:27:49 PM

Close-up of white-nest wwiftlets in a house White-nest swiftlets in natural caves

CF.EdibleBird'sNest 19-22.indd 4 3/29/07 5:27:50 PM

CF.SmartFarmUPM 23-27.indd 1 3/29/07 5:33:15 PM

Components of Machinery System

Sensing System Mapping System Control System

Database of Field Information Optimum Profitability

CF.SmartFarmUPM 23-27.indd 2 3/29/07 5:33:15 PM

(a) (b) (c)

CF.SmartFarmUPM 23-27.indd 3 3/29/07 5:33:16 PM

CF.SmartFarmUPM 23-27.indd 4 3/29/07 5:33:18 PM

of the programme was to provide Conclusion