Day: April 1, 2023

In line with the government’s recommendation to deal with the food insufficiency crisis, Universiti Teknologi MARA (UiTM) Kelantan branch opened a new chapter when it used the iMistroom 2000 system (modular smart mushroom house), which is the first in Malaysia, to produce white oyster mushrooms in the Machang campus.

Dr Syerina Azlin Md Nasir, an information technology lecturer and member of the Internet of Things (IoT) mushroom research group, said the method developed between iMistroom and IoT can not only increase the production of mushrooms up to twice as compared to normal methods, but also helps students and the local community generate income to improve their standard of living.

“Contemporary mushroom houses that incorporate this IoT systems can provide more inclusive environmental control, cost-effective design and selection of building materials as well as easier maintenance processes.

“The incubator also gives an opportunity to students and the B40 group to get skills and guidance from us to start a business based on white oyster mushrooms,” she said when met by reporters at the UiTM campus, here today.

Elaborating, Dr Syerina Azlin said a total of 2,000 blocks of white oyster mushrooms can be put in the incubator, where each block can produce five to six harvests and a maximum of five kilogrammes per day for 1,000 blocks.

“We also hope to generate an income for the undergraduates and local community, the important thing is how the transfer of knowledge takes place as through this it will produce more white oyster mushroom entrepreneurs as the demand for white oyster mushrooms is very high in the market right now,” she said.

Meanwhile, final-year Bachelor in Business Administration Marketing student Wan Muhammad Syukri Wan Norjik, 25, who is also the project’s pioneer, said the iMistroom 2000 can be monitored and controlled from a distance because it is equipped with a ‘cooling pad’ to maintain the temperature at a constant rate, suitable and ultraviolet lamps that work to promote the growth and expansion of mushrooms.

“Apart from this, the system that was fixed can monitor the expansion between 85 and 95 per cent, and a temperature of between 23 and 30 degrees Celsius and, as such, improve the quality of mushroom products as recommended by the Malaysian Agricultural Research and Development Institute (MARDI),” he said.

Wan Muhammad Syukri, who also runs a conventional grey oyster mushroom business at his home with sales reaching around RM10,000 a month, also hopes that more students and the B40 group will venture into this business because the results are very lucrative and thus can improve the country’s food security.

Source: BERNAMA News Agency

Wimbledon lifted the ban on the Russian and Belarusian tennis players on Friday and will let them play as neutrals at this year’s Grand Slam. “Our current intention is to accept entries from Russian and Belarusian players subject to them competing as ‘neutral’ athletes and complying with appropriate conditions,” Wimbledon said in a statement. In 2022, Wimbledon banned Russian and Belarusian athletes from the competition after Moscow launched its war on Ukraine on Feb. 24, 2022. “We continue to condemn totally Russia’s illegal invasion and our wholehearted support remains with the people of Ukraine,” said Ian Hewitt, chairman of the All England Club. “This was an incredibly difficult decision, not taken lightly or without a great deal of consideration for those who will be impacted.” Two Russian players feature in the top 10 of the men’s rankings – Daniil Medvedev (5) and Andrey Rublev (7), while among the women, Belarusian Aryna Sabalenka is second in the world. Medvedev, 27, won the 2021 US Open, one of the four majors in tennis. Meanwhile, 24-year-old Sabalenka secured the 2023 Australian Open title to become the first neutral player to have won a Grand Slam since Russia’s launched its war on Ukraine. The 2023 Wimbledon has been scheduled to be held from July 3 to 16.

Source: Philippines News Agency

The Malaysian Broadcasting Department (RTM) will continue to play an important role in disseminating national agenda to the people using fresh and new approaches despite facing various challenges, said Communications and Digital Minister Fahmi Fadzil.

He said that currently, RTM, which has six TV channels and 34 radio stations, is also facing the challenge of the evolution of the current media landscape, especially the use of social media as well as changing patterns and tastes of listeners and viewers.

“I believe in RTM director-general Suhaimi Sulaiman, with his experience and the support of the team at RTM, we will see a positive change where we can cater to target groups especially young people.

“We take this opportunity to find new content (and) new formats to get more viewers among young people,” he told reporters after appearing as a guest on TraXXfm as well as Selamat Pagi Malaysia programme in conjunction with RTM’s 77th anniversary celebration here today.

On the issue of media literacy among viewers and social media users, Fahmi said the media also played a role in educating users to verify information or announcement.

“I can see channels like Berita RTM, TV1 and TV2 as well as radio (stations) under RTM playing an important role so that the people can differentiate between facts and allegations, which is very important.

“I also see that we need to have a process of engagement with media practitioners to ensure that journalistic ethics are improved.

“This is because media literacy depends on journalists who understand, are eloquent and ready not to compromise just to attract readers by posting sensational headlines, this is important to avoid slander from spreading widely,” he said.

He added that the country would be able to move forward if the government, media practitioners, viewers and social media users were more responsible in their respective roles in safeguarding the public interest, peace and obeying the laws of the country.

On the proposed amendments of several acts under the ministry, Fahmi said he hoped that some of the acts would be tabled, debated and approved in Parliament before the end of this year since the matter is still under engagement process.

Also present were Deputy Communications and Digital Minister Teo Nie Ching, Communications and Digital Ministry secretary-general Datuk Seri Mohammad Mentek, Suhaimi and Malaysian National News Agency (Bernama) chief executive officer Roslan Ariffin.

In conjunction with the anniversary celebration, RTM also launched two main plans centered around the 2021-2025 Strategic Plan and the RTM Transformation Plan 2021-2023 involving four main pillars including radio, television, new media and engineering.

This is to ensure that the dissemination of information is always at an optimal level and is accepted by the people as a whole.

Source: BERNAMA News Agency

Paris said Friday that the volume of garbage piles in its municipality is decreasing. Streets in the capital had 4,300 tons of garbage Thursday and that was down to 3,200 on Friday, it said on its website. Paris is gearing up for a marathon Sunday and streets on the course are being cleaned, it said. First Deputy of Paris municipality Emmanuel Gregoire told the Le Parisien newspaper on Thursday that a significant improvement would be seen as of next week. “We are not back to the normal yet, due to the sporadic blockings in the incineration plants and in garbage truck garages,” he said, explaining that the collection and disposal processes are taking too long. Garbage collection in Paris Paris has known serious disruptions in garbage collection since earlier in the month due to a walkout by garbage workers to protest the government’s pension reform. Garbage collectors then decided to extend the strike, while tons of garbage piled up on the streets.

Source: Philippines News Agency

The Ministry of Rural and Regional Development (KKDW) through Risda will add another latex production depot to increase the production of the commodity in this country.

Minister of Rural and Regional Development Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi said it was also to reduce dependence on latex imports from abroad for industrial use in the country.

“Although rubber cup lump is still produced, my focus is to produce more latex.

“This can also help save RM3 billion for latex imports from abroad if more latex can be produced locally,” he said when met by reporters at the Perdana Al-Quran Tadarus ceremony in conjunction with Ramadan 1444H at the Bagan Datuk parliamentary level here today.

He said this when asked about the mechanism to ensure the introduction of rubber cup lump floor prices will help increase the income of smallholders and rubber tappers.

Ahmad Zahid who is also the Deputy Prime Minister said the production of more latex also helps to improve prices and growers and rubber tappers to earn a higher income.

Earlier, there was a proposal to study raising the scrap rubber floor price to at least RM3 per kilogramme compared to the RM2.70 announced in the 2023 Budget.

Ahmad Zahid said the matter will be announced by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim.

Meanwhile, nearly 1,500 participants joined the First Al-Quran Tadarus programme in conjunction with Ramadan 1444H for Bagan Datuk parliamentary level held at Bagan Datuk UMNO Complex here.

Source: BERNAMA News Agency

The Kuantan Sewerage Project, which involves several residential areas in Kuantan town and Kempadang here, is scheduled to be completed this September.

Kuantan Mayor Datuk Hamdan Hussin said monitoring and reprimands as well as strict measures such as issuing compounds will be taken to ensure there are no more delays in the project which could solve the issue of road congestion in the areas.

“For Aidilfitri, we have informed the contractor to stop work for a certain period of time and reduce road closures involving large roads such as Jalan Gambut because we know there will be an increase in the number of vehicles in Kuantan town during the last week of Ramadan until Aidilfitri,” he told a press conference at Jalan Teluk Sisek here which was fully opened today.

The RM570 million project, aims to improve the standard of sewerage services and the quality of the environment, was started in 2018 with an initial completion date in February 2022.

Meanwhile, state secretary Datuk Seri Dr Sallehuddin Ishak said the state government is considering the implementation of the second phase of the project in Indera Mahkota here.

Source: BERNAMA News Agency