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Hello fellow Agriculture & Aquaculture enthusiast ...

The September 2013 Edition is OUT>.....................

Read All About It.............

September 2013 (Quarterly) Newsletter

Hey guys,

I have question about jobs available in agriculture. I recently graduated with an Agronomy degree from USA. What are the prospects in the field? I tried KLK, Sime Darby, but there are no openings in their plantation department. Any idea which companies I could try applying to?

Anyone interested to attend ??? i am thinking of going there for a visit.

Hi Bro,

welcome abroad.

What does your agronomy degree specialises in ?? it depends. my view on fruit tree farming are great. the potential is unlimited (i sound like MLM) but its the truth.

You can head towards some big fruit producing companies or some fertiliser companies to get your basic knowledge...

Paraoptical

What do you think about the prospect of prawn farming? Previously I have access to prawn farming research via academic studies but that was in overseas and not in Malaysia. However, given the mundane task of working in office culture, I want to give it a try. Do you happen to know anyone involving in prawn farming? Your great advice is appreciated.

I am also interested, unfortunately am flying back to Sabah on the 29th. Unless I buy another flight ....still contemplating.....

Check this out: Avozilla, extra large avocado.
http://www.eveningtelegraph.co.uk/life/wei...n-sale-1.125530

Would like to get my hands on these

Hi Bro

the prospect is good for prawn farming as most of our prawns are exported to EU & USA. But please head over to Jab Perikanan for Business Advice and proposal. they are best to help you.

but also beware that currently USA might impose "Anti-Dumping Duty" due to some unscrupulous
companies getting cheap quality prawns and resell as Malaysian prawns.

this industry has good potential.

i would like to apologise because i am not able to give your more in depth advice because i am currently in Fruit Farming, and that's my forte

Hope this helps

Thank you for your advice.

welcome bro...

how is everyone's farm doing ???

its the raining season....

Anyone here has an aquaculture farm which is larger than 100 acres?

What you are referring to sounds like a permaculture practice, that is, using nature to work for itself. I am planning a similar venture where I grow my own food supply and sell the surplus to the local community. No middle man. Thus far, the idea of permaculture has been about cultivating abundance though the 'commercial' aspects have not been laid out in solid terms but it is possible. It would be a market of its own, not centralized like those mega supermarkets. Commercial systems have no regards for seasons. If they want tomatoes to be supplied, they would want it all year round. That is not sustainable nor is it natural.

It may not be appealing to those who'd like to earn mega big bucks from agriculture but it's rewarding and definitely leaves a positive impact on health and environment.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YZDnKwHQBp8

If you are interested in a permaculture course, there will be one held locally. I highly recommend as it will adjust your mindset about what should be prioritized. It's an intense 2 weeks course. I did mine last year and have no regrets. Hope this helps.

http://murujan.com/2013/08/15/permaculture...-malaysia-2014/

Well, the forecast says it'll rain, but unfortunately it didn't reach our farm. Had not rained for a week, but before that was raining almost every night. So much so that it's affecting some of my papayas on the lower field. Production had dropped as flowers dropped a lot due to the heat and rain. Had also culled off the round varieties.

Weather is extremely hot, the field dries up and harden with 3 days no rain.

Working on the remaining area to be planted with papaya. Preparing seedlings, which should germinate when I go back to the farm end of the month.
On a side line, transplanting so Gaharu, grafting some Jackfruits, propagating lime, germinating some soursop, avocados & durians (Musang King
Life as a farmer is hard, but is great!

Yes, I do agree that Permaculture is beneficial to the environment. It's like working in harmony with nature. Flowing with the tide of nature. I am sure the newer generation of of farmer is working towards this direction, in our own little ways.

You may want to check out DQ Farm. They are on a commercial scale.

As for me, I've just started on farming, first 3 years was a tourist farmer and only last year was on an crash intensive learning. Am still trying to get my basic right. Once I learned up, shall definitely look into agriculture in an organic and permaculture way.

Jackfruit

Hi Guys, would like to start a discussion on methods / ways of marketing Jackfruit, fresh / processed, flesh & seeds.

So far, I seen fresh, cut up and selling by weight. Packed and sold in fruit stall and supermarkets.

Processed as chips

Process as Jams, cakes, ice creams.

What other ways?

Thanks. Yes, I've contacted DQ farm before asking if they'd let me do 'attachment' so I can learn. Unfortunately, the farm is not open for public visit, much less an internship. However, they are sharing their practices on their FB page so that's a consolation.

Please do share what you have learned here, as it shall benefits all of us. It shall shorten our learning curve.

Mind to share your experience on your Premaculture course that you had taken?

great on doing the soursop. if you have problem on the soursop trees i can help you with it

also on the jackfruit trees

practically what you mentioned below on jackfruit is what i see in Mantin. fresh, whole and cut fruits and recently sold as jams....

you are planting alot ?

The Permaculture course is simply a spring board into itself. There is no way everything can be covered in two weeks. For those who are interested, the real work begins after the course and this involves continuous learning because nature is just so profound in its ways. Permaculture is a marriage of two terms - permanent culture and some say permanent agriculture. Basically it's ethical design science ie. using nature to provide abundance not just for oneself but to those around and at the same time to flourish the environment. I won't go into the history of how the permaculture movement came about.

The course prepares the participants to be permaculture consultants who should have the basics to handle a permaculture project anywhere in the world. So for that two weeks, they went through practically every climate and terrain, which was overwhelming I have to admit. I went for the course just to learn more so I can apply to the climate and terrain here in the tropics. I was quite surprised at the broad range of participants. There were Americans, French, a New Zealander, lady from China, Hong Kong and another from Bangladesh. The teacher is from Turkey and he learned directly from Bill Mollison, founder of the permaculture movement. Seems I got more than what I bargained for. So, it ultimately depends on which direction one wishes to go. Some become full time permaculture teachers, others become consultants. Me, I prefer to do small time farming.

The concept can be applied to not just agriculture but at the work place, school and so on. The idea is to fully utilize an element, thus giving it more than one purpose/use. I'll give you an example. At DQ farms, no part of their chicken is wasted. The meat is eaten and sold... obviously. However, leftovers like blood is turned into fertilizer. Bones and feathers are composted back to the soil. In permaculture, livestocks are treated as working partners and not slaves or commodity. Chickens are used to prepare the land instead of manual tilling. They don't just rake up the ground, they fertilize them with manure as well. So that's an example of using an element to provide many uses.

One reason why we need so much fertilizer and pesticides is because our soil is dead. Actually here in the tropics, we have more sand than soil. Healthy soil will inevitably produce healthy crops. And in nature, trees and plants do not grow in neat straight rows. Hence, in permaculture, plants are grown in groups or 'guilds'. Another familiar term is companion planting. Before doing so, one should read up on suitable companion plants. Some plants like bamboo are allelopathic. That means they inhibit the growth of others around them. If I remember, plants of the same genus/species, get along very well. Companion planting has many benefits as some plants support each other. Some are nitrogen fixers and these tend to have deep roots and they help to bring the minerals up to the ground so when you mulch them, they feed the others with shallow roots. Someone was asking about having ladybugs to help with keeping the vegetables pest free. I've read that they love to settle down in nettles. But what do we do when we see nettles? We cut them or spray herbicide. By the way, here in the tropics, the most efficient plants to grow would be fruit trees and for livestocks, it's aquaculture.

Permaculture promotes diverse interaction between plants and animals because that is how it was created to be. What we have done in modern agriculture is to try to turn this natural system in a factory. Of course, nature does not work like a factory. That's why we have so much issues. So we try to control it with chemicals and machines.

If you look at a modern chicken farm, you'll understand the term factory better. As chicks, their beaks are cut off so they won't peck each other as this leaves ugly marks on their skin. By the way, healthy chickens rarely peck one another because they have plenty of space to roam around. But with a broken beak, they can never live as a normal chicken and look for food like worms and insects in the ground. Well, they don't have to because they will not see a real ground anyway. They are instead kept in cages, fed with cheap grain and given hormones to make them fat in the shortest time possible. Why? To maximize profits of course. Problem is, hormones, unlike chemicals, stay in the human body. Also, these chickens are cramped together like how they cramp those foreign workers in their dormitories. To keep them alive, antibiotics are given. The air inside the chicken farm is loaded with faecal dust. That's why you'd have to wear masks before going in. But the chickens don't wear masks right? They breathe in their own poop dust every single day. So much so that it ends up in their blood. They don't get enough exercise that they can hardly stand up. But this is NORMAL as long as the farm owner is raking in profits.

Sorry for the long winded post. I hope I did not come across as some 'holier than thou' preacher. After living in the city all my life, I've concluded that our food and our life is pretty messed up. I'm still learning and hope someday, I can provide for myself, family, neighbours and community some real wholesome food.

If you have time please watch this video. It's one of the best I've seen on urban permaculture. I really envy this couple.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7iSaRzjxL3E

Thank you Para.
Soursop am having just 1 fruiting tree and the rest, about 100 trees just planted from April till July. Now germinating more. Tried grafting on 2 trees just for fun.

Jackfruit, have 2 fruiting trees, planted maybe 50 trees early this year (non-grafted). Germinating and grafting (learning) more. Hope to plant more. Working on J29, J 31 and J 33.

I shall most probably sell as fresh fruits when I harvest.

As for the way of marketing / processing Jackfruits, it's more for a friend (India) as they are looking into ways to help their local farmers. I am compiling and would forward to him with pics as soon as I can.