New Variety Crops at Malaysia's MAHA 2012

BACHOK (Kelantan, Malaysia), June 12 (Bernama) -- The Malaysian Agriculture and Research Development Institute (Mardi) will be introducing new high yielding and good quality varieties for several crops during the international Malaysia Agriculture, Horticulture and Agro Tourism (MAHA) 2012 in Serdang, Selangor, November this year. Mardi director-general Dr Abdul Shukor Abdul Rahman said, this year, the institute received a RM10 million (US$3.14 million) allocation from the government and an additional RM10 million (US$3.14 million) from another source to conduct research and development on new varieties such as padi and cash crops. "We will introduce these new varieties, which are more resilient to pests and with good quality and high yield, from time to time," he told reporters after launching the Telong Mardi Station community programme here on Tuesday. Dr Abdul Shukor also launched a book titled "Stesen Mardi Telong - Pencapaian 30 tahun (1982-2012)" (Telong Mardi Station - 30 Years of Achievement (1982-2012) which documents the successes of the Mardi station since its establishment including introducing new crops, agriculture technology, land and plantation management, water management and post harvest management. He added that the Telong station was responsible for introducing a number of alternative lucrative crops to tobacco. Among the main successes were sweet potato, groundnuts, sweet corn, Roselle, watermelon and sweet pumpkin . "The Vitato variety sweet potato is a favourite among farmers in bris soil areas where it can yield about 40 tonnes per hectare. He said the station's community programme aimed to encourage people to visit the 21 by 31 hectare facility, mostly involved in research. He hoped agriculture related bodies such as regional farmers organisations would organise visits to the station in order to benefit from the agriculture technology being developed. -- BERNAMA