The Perfect Storm Is Coming Can Queen Teresa Save Malaysia

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Developing crop diversity is not a threat to Malaysia’s oil palm industry. Rather it could be a vital saviour, one of the world’s top crop scientists based in KL has been explaining to the country’s leading politicians, who appear to be listening
Professor Sayed Azam-Ali heads KL’s prestigious Crops For the Future Institute (CFF), supported by the Malaysian Government together with Nottingham University, which is fast becoming one of the world’s most highly regarded research centres in terms of meeting future challenges for global food security
The ten years old facility, housed in a futuristic building designed around eco-friendly principles to cut energy waste, is now Malaysia’s highest ranking agricultural research centre thanks to the level of innovative research that is emanating from its large base of student scientists. It also ranks in the top five globally
Preventing a ‘Perfect Storm’However, CFF, which was visited by Sarawak Report earlier this week, is about to issue what it describes as an urgent Call For Action, in order to prevent what is described as a ‘perfect storm’ that could see a collapse in the ability of the world’s human population to grow sufficient food to feed itself
By 2030, the institute says, the world will have to produce 50% more food and 30% more fresh water, just at a time when temperatures are rising causing crops to fail.Progressive building designed to save energyGlobal Warming Is Real And Threatens Malaysia’s Top CropGuiding visitors round the facility which is the only centre in the world that researches underutilised crops through every stage of the value chain from production through to retail and consumption, Sayed makes no hesitation in stating what he says is a bald scientific fact
If global temperatures rise by the 1.5%, which the overwhelming majority of scientists presently predict will happen within just 12 years, barring urgent measures, then the climate in Malaysia will become too hot for its most abundant crop, oil palm, to survive
Therefore, it is not the bio-fuel restrictions currently being imposed by European markets which present the biggest threat to Malaysia’s staple crop, it’s global warming – a problem that many in Malaysia have yet to come to terms with
SolutionsThe CFF Call For Action is not about casting blame however.  Rather the 40 page draft report, which is due to be released next week, sets out what the centre believes are genuine workable solutions, which Professor Sayed says he has been laying out to Ministers, including Prime Minister Dr Mahathir, whom he says called him to a meeting within days of the last election
“It was less than two weeks following the election and I received this message to please go to meet the new PM. At first I thought it might be a hoax, but when I went to see him he expressed enormous interest in pioneering our ideas out on the ground in Malaysia as soon as possible” Sayed told listeners including Sarawak Report
Among key findings the centre has started to produce is that by introducing some of the world’s traditional, but currently neglected and ‘underutilised’ crops into the spaces around and under palm plantations it is possible to regenerate the fertlity and productivity of the soil to help the oil palms to also thrive
Many of these crops also do the job of aerating the earth, making it no longer necessary to turn the soil – an agricultural practice that causes mass releases of unwanted carbon into the atmosphere, which adds to global warming
Combating Hidden HungerAs he leads visitors around the centre’s experimental crop nurseries created out of abandoned palm oil plantation land, Professor Sayed explains that many such ‘old fashioned’ legumes and bambara groundnut have almost been lost to human knowledge in recent generations in favour of major mass agriculture crops worldwide
However, these plants tend to be much hardier and therefore able to grow in exhausted earth and to refertilise it naturally. They also supply vital aspects of the human diet like plant proteins and vitamins, which have been neglected in Malaysia in favour of too much fast food over recent years, causing obesity and even a rise in stunted growth and mental development in otherwise well fed children
The phenomenon of ‘hidden hunger’ is now causing major health concerns among urban populations like KL, which more diversified crops can work to solve
Easier Cash For Smallholders?For smallholders in particular, the centre has found that diversifying towards such underutilised crops alongside the oil palm plantations can provide more income than competing
Two of the crops researched and developed by the institute, Moringa and Bambura, have recently been numbered among the top five ‘Super Foods’ of the future in a well publicised WWF report
Two of the top five ‘super foods of the future’ have been identified and developed at Malaysia’s CFF centre in SelangorNot only do these plants prove they can grow in areas where palm oil plantations have become exhausted – the so called stranded assets which plantation companies have abandoned – they can also regenerate the soil without the need for expensive and polluting artificial fertilisers
“These plants add value and fill in the spaces under and around the existing oil palms. Presently this space in Malaysia – unused agricultural land around plantations – occupies 27% of the total palm plantation area, amounting to 1.2 million hectares. That is the same area as the entire land mass of the Netherlands, which is the second biggest agriculture exporter in the world after the United States.  So that goes to show how much more we could do with our present agricultural space if we attend to more efficient management and varied crops” says Sayed
Primary Industries Minister Teresa Kok is also interested. Sayed says he has met her at least three times and her team have also visited the project to view his findings for themselves
Another key message produced by this Malaysia based crop research is that the greater variety of crops and diversifying large regions of monoculture effectively helps to counter the spread of diseases, which can take a dangerous grip over vast, single species plantations
Sayed points out the danger. Presently just four top cash crops account for 60% of the world’s total food consumption, whereas 7,000 other underutilised traditional crops from across the world are in danger of being driven out of existence by mass agricultural practices, even though they present better prospects for survival if temperatures continue to rise
Save Palm Oil By Saving ForestsOne of the most dramatic messages that visitors are taking away with them, says Sayed, is that one of the key measures Malaysia can take to protect the future of oil palm plantations from rising temperatures is not only to mix them with other crops but to but to reduce pressure on the remaining rainforests across the country by growing underutilised crops on land that is no longer suitable for mainstream agriculture
Rising temperatures are caused by rising carbon levels and fast growing tropical rainforests eat carbon out of the air faster than any other process on the planet. Previous logging has released carbon into the atmostphere and at the same time reduced the number of trees to absorb the gas
On the other hand, if these areas are protected from future logging, regenerated and left free to grow back undisturbed they will suck millions of tons of carbon back from the air, helping to keep temperatures below that perilous level of a rise of 1.5%C, which all scientists agree will cause global devastation – and kill off plam oil plantations in warm countries like Malaysia
Biodiversity HotspotMany Malaysians are also uninformed that the remaining Sout East Asian rainforests are not only the oldest in the world (Borneo is 150 million years old) but are also the most biodiverse regions of the planet
Once again, by preserving that biodiversity Malaysia can benefit from the advantages of its unparalleled variety of species when it comes to the challenges of adapting to changing conditions on the planet
Better NutritionCFF has one of the most high tech experimental laboratories globally for measuring the impact of CO2 on the plants we eat. 18 separate conditioning chambers can report exactly on how the effects of different levels of the gas in the surrounding air affects nutrional values
This is significant because the levels of CO2 on earth have doubled since the inception of the industrial revolution, says Professor Sayed:“It is now proven that higher CO2 levels cause a reduction in key micro-nutritional content in plants – zinc levels for example go down when CO2 goes up and that is a seriou risk to human health”
Opportunity Not To Miss?With the above facts established, it is worth bearing in mind that a programme to regenerate Malaysia’s forests (as opposed to continuing with more relentless logging) could potentially raise billions of dollars in carbon capture off-set money paid by global industries and other countries
In the meantime, according to Malaysia’s own homegrown Call For Action Programme, this forest regeneration could also provide the most single effective means of cooling down the region to protect oil palm plantations.  As can a host of complementary crops that could help extend the life of the valued cash crop by returning minerals and breaking down impacted soils without having to till the earth and release yet more gases in the process
It is all about thinking smart and using resources more thoughtfully to find solutions to problems mankind created
Thanks to CFF, Malaysia is at the forefront of the search for scientific solutions, but it is up to the new government and the industry itself to seize the opportunity to implement them before the effects of climate change produce that ‘perfect storm’
In the lab /measuring how nutritional content is affected by CO2 levels in the airSARAWAK REPORT

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