Malaysia Looking Into Possibilities To Learn From Mexico On Tissue Culture Coconut Plantations

SERDANG (Selangor, Malaysia), May 22 (Bernama) -- Malaysia is looking into possibilities to learn from Mexico on the tissue culture technology towards better coconut plantations, says Malaysian Agriculture Research and Development Institute (Mardi) Director-General Dr Sharif Haron. He said this idea was proposed by Asian and Pacific Coconut Community to several countries, including Malaysia on using this technology so that Malaysia could increase its domestic coconut production and reduce imports from neighbouring countries to meet the demand. He said currently, Mardi was in talks with coconut industry players to discuss whether this tissue culture technology was suitable and viable for the country's coconut industry. "Only after the talks, we will consult the ministry and call on investors who are interested to develop the tissue culture technology in Malaysia. Bringing coconut seeds from Mexico is difficult because at the normal growth rate of a tree under proper care, it takes three to five years to produce its first fruit. "But with the technology, we will yield faster and will get bigger coconuts. It is time to go into new variety. We want to learn from countries which are successful in this technology. It will be a quantum leap for Malaysia. This technology is important to our coconut industry," he told Bernama after officiating the Coconut Consultative Forum and Expo 2017 themed, ‘Virgin Coconut Oils and Other Health Products’ here Saturday. Tissue culture is a technique by which excised plant tissues, organs or plant cells are cultured aseptically in specially formulated artificial nutrient media, inside glass vessels, under controlled environmental conditions to grow into new plants. Sharif said as the demand for coconut products continued to grow domestically, Malaysia was slowly picking up in the need as people began to realise that every part of the coconut tree had its uses and could be made into a product. "Only recently, the people saw the benefits of coconut, especially virgin coconut oil (VCO) and related products which have some 1,500 studies on promoting overall health. So, this is the time for Malaysia to come back as the world’s top producer in coconut. Although we are far behind the Philippines which has more than a million hectares of coconut plantation, we can always catch up," he said. On providing awareness on the VCO and related products, he said Mardi would need to work on industry players including private sectors to establish a consortium which would be responsible for monitoring and informing on the coconut industry progress, as well as advising growers on agronomic best practices and providing them with planting materials. More than 150 experts, entreprenuers, students and coconut industry players attended the two-day forum beginning today, to discuss efforts to give new impetus to the coconut industry which experienced unfavourable conditions over the decades. -- BERNAMA