Malaysia: Pahang Sultan urges Cameron Highlands growers to reduce pesticide use
Source: HD.com
Malaysia: Pahang Sultan urges Cameron Highlands growers to reduce pesticide use The Sultan of Pahang has called on greenhouse growers in Cameron Highlands to reduce and avoid the use of insecticides and other chemical inputs in protected cultivation systems. Al-Sultan Abdullah Ri'ayatuddin Al-Mustafa Billah Shah stated that greenhouse production practices in the highland region should move towards cultivation approaches that do not rely on chemical pest control.
© Kesultanan Pahang The Sultan referred to cooperation with the Netherlands, stating that Dutch government bodies and companies have contributed inputs, technology, and cultivation approaches to growers in Cameron Highlands. These contributions include controlled-environment production methods and pest management approaches based on biological control, with the aim of reducing dependence on chemical pesticides.
He also stated that such approaches are part of broader modern cultivation systems, including the use of data-driven and controlled-environment techniques combined with biological pest management © Kesultanan Pahang © Kesultanan Pahang The Sultan called on state authorities and the Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security to review and introduce additional methods in agricultural policy and extension services to support adoption of these systems among growers in Pahang. He linked these developments to production output, market access, and alignment with domestic and export supply chains in the horticulture sector.
Why this matters: For operators, this is a water-management story. The useful signal is that direct substrate measurements can help cut drain loss materially without giving up yield or fruit quality, which is exactly the kind of controllable efficiency gain a facility can build on.
Frequently Asked Questions
Why does substrate sensing matter in free-drain strawberry systems?
Because drain percentage tells a grower what already happened, while substrate moisture and EC data show root-zone conditions directly. That makes it easier to cut water loss without guessing.
What is the operator takeaway from this trial?
If the thresholds are understood well enough, growers can reduce drain water materially while protecting yield and fruit quality, which makes sensing an operational tool instead of a reporting tool.
