ISSUES AND CHALLENGES IN THE SUPPLY CHAIN OF FRUITS & VEGETABLES SECTOR IN IN...
LI_REPORT_SBS_B11A551_ELIAS BIN MOHSIN
1. Industrial Training Report
Faculty of Agro-Based Industry (FIAT)
Universiti Malaysia Kelantan
2015
Course Code SBS – FPT4248
Student ID B11A551
Name Elias Bin Mohsin
Academic advisor Dr. Nurul Syaza Binti Abdul Latif
Duration 16 weeks
(from 22/02/2015 - 13/06/2015)
Student email elias_sahcrmc92@yahoo.com
Student hp 017-3315015
Company Name MARDI Alor Setar
Company Supervisor
Name
Tn. Hj. Mohd Yusoff Bin Ayob
Company City, State Alor Setar, Kedah
3. 2
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
I would like to thank you MARDI Alor Setar, Kedah as they had given
me the opportunity to have me as their industrial training student from 22nd
February till 13th
June 2015. The facilities provided by this company are very
satisfying and ease the jobs I was required to do during the industrial training
period.
Next, I would like to thank you my field supervisor, Tn. Hj. Mohd Yusoff
which is also the current Station Manager of MARDI Alor Setar for guiding me
on fertigation system techniques and share his wide experience in agriculture
field. The support from him is very helpful during my industrial training period.
I also want to thank my academic advisor, Dr. Nurul Syaza, as she had
given a much supports and advises during the industrial training period. Her
motivation and tips during the period are very inspiring and help me to get
along well with the community and adapt with the environment of the real-life
industry routines.
Last but not least, big thank you to my family members and friends for
their endless supports to me to complete this industrial training course
successfully. Without them, it would be really hard to be able to enjoy the
industrial life despite the business with assignments and other tasks given by
the company.
4. 3
POSTER
Student ID SBS4 – B11A551
Name ELIAS BIN MOHSIN
Company MARDI ALOR SETAR
Company
nature
Agriculture research and technology development
Wisdom i
learnt there,
max 30 words
(English)
There are always opportunities and chances available for
creative invention and innovation of new products to
improve the quantity and quality of the yield.
5. 4
CHAPTER 1
INTRODUCTION
Finding the company:
I chose MARDI Alor Setar because it is very near to my house which
about 5km away from my home. At first, i directly sent my profile resume to
two government agriculture agencies located in Alor Setar, the first one is
Lembaga Pertubuhan Peladang Negeri Kedah and the other one is MARDI
Alor Setar. I personally submitted my resume to the office of both agencies
and both company accepted my application. MARDI cover wider scope
innovation of new agriculture products via various researches and
experiments, so i decided to proceed my industrial training there.
About the company:
MARDI is a statutory body mandated to conduct research in the field
of food and agriculture and agro-based industries. MARDI research efforts for
nearly 40 years has produced a new crop varieties and clones, new breeds
and methods of management. The latest technology was also produced in the
field of food processing and post-harvest handling for horticulture and
livestock products. ICT technology utilized in the management and control
technology fields such as precision farming for rice and budgeting crop
production through imaging techniques. New techniques are being developed
for the management of environmental and agricultural resources, particularly
water, soil and genetic resources more efficiently.
6. 5
In addition to implementing the Research and Development (R&D)
contract, the Institute also provides technical services and development of
entrepreneurs in the field of food, agriculture and other services in the
industry. Technical services is in the form of advisory services, consulting,
technical training, laboratory services and quality certification, product
development and innovation and technology upgrading.
Farmers and entrepreneurs who adopt MARDI technology has
successfully contributed to the development of the food sector, agriculture and
agro-based industry nationwide. This has helped to sustain the agricultural
sector as a contributor to the national economy.
As an organization that runs the core business of research in science
and technology, MARDI provide expert groups in the areas of identified need,
and contribute effectively to the corpus of knowledge globally.
All information, scientific findings and knowledge gained from
agricultural R&D activities are channeled through publications and
conferences and exhibitions both nationally and internationally. To ensure
MARDI not left behind in technological development in the field of food and
agriculture at the global level, close relationships with several research
institutes, universities and networks at national and international constantly
expanded.
7. 6
Company background:
MARDI established with the main objective to generate and promote
new technologies , fair and efficient way to advance the food industry ,
agriculture and agro-based industries . MARDI Act 1969 has led to the
establishment on 28 October 1969. MARDI MARDI has been fully operational
in 1971 . MARDI managed and guided by policy and legislative decisions
MARDI Governing Board with the approval of the Minister of Agriculture and
Agro-based Industry . For financial matters, approval of the Minister of
Finance is also required . MARDI Science Council also ensure technical
program MARDI achieve the level of quality and maximum effectiveness .
The Vision
Research and Development organization become renowned in the field of
food , agriculture and bio -based industry by 2015 .
Mission
Generate and transfer knowledge, technology, competence and technical
services to support the achievement of the government's goal of transforming
agriculture and agro-based industry to an innovative sector, commercial and
competitive.
9. 8
Company products and services:
MARDI is the only authorised government agency allowed to conduct
researches and development programs on food, agriculture and agro-based
industries in Malaysia. Generally, MARDI R&D focus on 19 main scopes.
There are as follows :
1) Agriculture Biodiversity
2) Agriculture Biotechnology
3) Fruits
4) Economics
5) Medicated & Aromatic Plants
6) Agriculture – Based Industry (Non-food)
7) Food and Post Harvest Engineering
8) Agricultural Engineering
9) Animal Feed
10) Rice
11) Livestock Production
12)Technology Management
13)Agricultural Environment
14)Organic Farming
15)Food Science & Technology
16)Potential Crops
17)Industrial Crops
18)Vegetables Crops
19)Ornamental/Floriculture & Landscape Plants
10. 9
CHAPTER 2
TASK
Tasks assigned:
During the 16 weeks period in industrial training in MARDI Alor Setar, I was
given a project regarding on the pest and disease observation and
management in the station’s fertigation area. It is a very interesting project
given to me because there are some courses in SBS related to this project
such as Plant Disease Management, Crop Protection, Chemical in Agriculture
and Postharvest Technology. So, I have the basic of these pest and disease
field learnt in Universiti Malaysia Kelantan before, and it really helped me so
much undergoing this project.
Pest and disease are the main threats to the yield of the crops. In my
industrial training project, my target crops are two vegetables, the first one is
leaf mustard or Brassica juncea and Amaranth or Amaranthus viridis. Leaf
mustard is known as Sawi Hijau and Amaranth is known as Bayam in Malay.
These vegetables are the favourite of the locals and can be found easily in the
daily fresh market. It is very important of this project to study the development
of pest and disease in these two crops, so that in the future we could provide
greener technology to control them rather than using the conventional
chemical pesticide. In current market, more consumer are starting to pay
more attention to the organic vegetables and prefer it more than the
conventional planted vegetables.
11. 10
It happened because the consumer are exposed to the benefits and
advantages of these organic products and they are willing to pay more for it,
as we all know organic practices require more time and labour cost compare
to the conventional method. But in reality, most of the vegetables in the
market are still planting via conventional method as it is fast and can be mass
produced easily. So there are two types of consumer in the market, the one
whom prefer the organic, pesticide-free vegetables and willing to pay more
and the other one prefer cheap vegetables as long as it is still safe to eat.
Organic planting and practices is still at low percentage in Malaysia
and require further research and development by the related agencies, and
MARDI is the main government agency for that. Leaf mustard and amaranth
were chose for the project because they can be harvest around 28 to 30 days
of maturity. So, I managed to repeat three times of replanting new batches of
these vegetables and observed various pest and diseases occurred in the
project area within the 16 weeks given.
There are 5 rows of fertigation piping system in the project area, where
each row consist of 45 polybags each side, so in a single row there are 90
polybags. The total number of polybags under the rain shelter structure are
450 polybags. This system is powered by two electrical-generated water
pump, the first pump is the submerged pump for clean water tank and the
other pump is for the mixing tank. The overall system is efficient enough to
supply the pressure required by each polybags uniformly.
12. 11
Figure 2.1: Amaranth Figure 2.2 : Leaf-Mustard
Figure 2.3 : Fertigation system layout under Rain Shelter Structure.
13. 12
The main pests attacking these vegetables are Diamondback Moth,
Leaf Folder, Leaf Miner, and many more. The top main diseases affecting the
leaf-mustard are club root, bacterial soft rot, damping off and leaf rot.
Amaranth are usually affected by also damping off, choanephora rot, and
athractnose. Most of the diseases are caused fungal affection, so the staff
usually sprayed the fungicide such as Delthrin once every a week to control
the damage to the crops.
Myself and the other staffs also tried formulating our own pest
repellent using simple kitchen ingredients such as onions, and chillies and
blend them together. The key ingredient must have strong pungent smell so
that it will repel away the pest from the crops. However, this repellent only
suitable for small-sized farming, but it is very cheap and easy to make. Other
ingredients could be added in order to fit the target pest that we are against
with.
The current trend of vegetables and fruits are leaning towards
organic products, so it is much preferable in hypermarket but not in the local
open market. Urban consumer which are really concern about their food
safety, chemical residues, long term side effect and nutrition content most
likely will buy the organic product at higher prices compare to the conventional
planted vegetables with a lot of chemical sprayed over them. It is the future
market coming fast, and more research and development are needed.
14. 13
After harvesting the vegetables each season, I found that the yield
are not consistent due to several factors. First factor is the method of sowing
seeds, where we did several methods of sowing. In the first batch, we sow the
seeds directly in the polybag by randomly scatter the seeds inside the
polybag. The second batch, we sow the seeds in the open seed tray, and
randomly scatter the seeds. The third batch, we used the specific holes seed
tray and sows 2-3 seeds in each hole. The medium used in the seed tray is
Free Peat from Holland, and treated rice husk were used in every polybag as
the medium. For leaf-mustard, the average yield of a polybag is around 400g,
and for amaranth, the average yield is around 600g.
By observing the method of sowing, I can conclude that the third
method is proven the best, because the survival of the young plant after
transplanted into polybags is around 80-90%, while the other methods are
poorly survive but very easy to do. Third method is recommended. We also
did an experiment to study growth of seed germination in the seed tray
compound of 100% using Free Peat, and 50% Free Peat with 50% treated
rice husk. It was found that both method did not show significance difference,
so I could conclude that we could save the cost of the imported Free Peat by
mixing it together with treated rice husk. The treated rice husk is free, and
only being charged RM50 for each full capacity 3-tonned lorry for the fuel and
service charge, whereas the Free Peat is RM45 per 10kg.
15. 14
My field supervisor insisted on using the chillies fertigation formula
for these vegetables too, so the yield were not convincing as expected. The
NPK elements requirement are different for these crops, but we proceed with
the existing chillies formula to save cost and the second reason is that there
are too many type of crops being grown in overall area, so to be specific for
each crop is more expensive. I strongly believe if we used leafy-vegetables
fertigation formula, we could improve the average yield drastically.
For example, Phosphorus fertilizers often help most at transplant
time. Flower growth on a plant is an essential part of the plant's reproduction.
The healthy growth of plants requires all fertilizer elements; a lack of one can
result in many symptoms. While all elements play a role in plant development
and, subsequently, flower development, phosphorus is the element most
responsible for stimulating stronger bud, fruit and flower development.
Plants require 16 nutrients for growth. Three of these are taken from air and
water: carbon, hydrogen and oxygen. Of the remaining essential nutrients,
three are considered primary nutrients: nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium.
These three are taken up in larger amounts by plants, are the most commonly
deficient in soil and are the three most commonly applied. The three-digit
number on a package of fertilizer is known as the N-P-K rating and lists the
percentage ratio of nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium, respectively.
16. 15
Figure 2.4 : The fertilizer formula for chillies applied in MARDI Alor Setar.
Figure 2.5 : Weighing process of each element required.
17. 16
Other than my assigned project, I also involved in several other
activities in the station. Several times I have been helping the other staff
setting up exhibition booth in several mini expo and carnival. It was a new
experience to me as I can observe directly the process of consulting and
promoting the latest MARDI technologies to the society. It requires wide
knowledge and experiences to be able to consult and convince the customer.
Figure 2.6 : Setting up the exhibition booth in RTC Napoh, Changlun.
18. 17
Other than that, I also attended several agriculture related seminars
held in MARDI Alor Setar, such as the Bengkel Latihan Rancangan
Kewangan dan Analisis Kewangan Siri 2/2015, Kursus Asas Fertigasi 2015,
Kursus Ternakan Lebah Kelulut, and Kursus Pembungkusan dan Pelabelan
Snek Tradisional 2015 organized by MARDI itself. Most of the seminars are
already being taught in some courses in SBS, so they are very critical and
much needed in the industrial sectors. I was involved in being the supportive
crew and as well as being a participant in those seminars. I gained new
experiences by meeting few local agriculture entrepreneurs or known as
agropreneurs. Most of them have the ideas to create their product, but lack
the skills in promoting them and poor investing to expand their business
capacity.
Figure 2.7 : Receiving the participant cert from MARDI
19. 18
CHAPTER 3
RECOMMEDATIONS AND CONCLUSIONS
Recommendations to company:
There are four main recommendations that i would like to suggest to
the company. They are as listed below :
1) Use specific fertigation formula for each specific crops.
2) Fully utilizes every facility available in station to generate income.
3) Do interval maintenance in each facilities to avoid further worse
damage.
4) Use timer to water pumps to automatically switch on during weekend
and holidays.
As mentioned earlier, I strongly suggest using specific fertigation
formula for each specific crops. A leafy vegetables require different elements
compare to fruity crops such as tomatoes, watermelon, chillies and rock
melon. It is such a loss by providing non-specific formula because we might
end up supplying unnecessary element or even over supplying them. This
situation would lead to mineral deficiency or even excessiveness. In
competitive business world, every cost make the differences between profit
and loses. To avoid further loses, specific formula is very needed.
20. 19
The second recommendation is due to several facilities are not being
operated even though they are ready for operational processes. For example,
there is a mushroom house left empty for several months, and several
hydroponic empty tanks abandoned without the pump. This is such a waste
because the facilities are already there, but no progress are being done. Even
a small size project running in those facilities will contribute to the
development of the designated project and may as well generate income to
the station itself. New project should be implemented and supervise from
time to time.
MARDI Alor Setar has been established many years ago, thus some
facilities were damaged slowly by the environment factor such as heavy rains,
windstorm, drought and many more. To buy a new spare parts or repairing
materials require expensive cost and has to go through some birocracy
process before being approved by the top management. In order to avoid the
long wait of purchase ordering from the supplier and also the wait during the
process, the damage will get worse even more. There was a case when a rain
shelter canvas was stripped out from the roof structure due to strong cross
wind out of sudden. It took almost 2 months for the order to be approved by
the management, and most of the crops affected were badly damaged later
due to direct sunray from the sun. If there are some interval maintenance to
do check-up from time to time, I believe this problem could be avoided.
21. 20
Last but not least, a high-quality timer should be used in every water
pump in fertigation system in MARDI Alor Setar station. This is because for
the time being, everything is operating manually. The staff has to switch on
the pump, and he has to wait there to switch it off again. Problem arises when
sometimes the staff forgot to switch off the pump, and no one is there to
switch on the pump during weekend and public holidays. When no water is
supplied to the crops, of course they will wilt and become less fresh. However,
this problem could be overcome by applying a high quality timer which could
last long period, and withstand several resistances. The timer then will
automatically switch on and off the pump according to the time set by the staff
himself.
Conclusion
MARDI Alor Setar provided me the necessary facilities and support
needed for me to accomplish this Industrial Training successfully. I hope by
the recommendations given, it would be able to help and improve the
performance of the station. This Industrial Training really effective in exposing
students to the real industrial world and face the challenges and problems
with our own creativity and innovations.
41. 40
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