(1) Date: 8th May,2010 (Saturday) Venue: Paramount Hotel, Sibu  Time: 9 am – 4:30 pm

(2) Date: 15th May, 2010 (Saturday) Venue: Telang Usan Hotel, Kuching  Time: 9 am – 4:30 pm

Fee: RM300/participant (including lunch)

For further details & reservation, please contact: 013-8289795, 013-8182977, 019-8568375

Regards,

Dr. Elli Luhat
Principal Consultant

I’ll be conducting a day seminar on smartfarming in Bintulu on 15/8/2009. Cultivating of Jatropha Superbulk will be among papers to be presented. If you wish to know more, please make an effort to come.

Thanks

Regards

Dr. Luhat

Passion Masters president Johari Ahmad said that 809ha in Belawai, Jerijeh, Tanjung Manis and the Rajang area in Mukah division had been identified for the cultivation of jatropha superbulk, a variety developed by Dr Elli Luhat of the institute.

He said that jatropha superbulk would be the main feedstock for a biofuel processing facility in Tanjung Manis.

“Our jatropha superbulk nursery will be in operation by the first quarter of 2009 in Jerijeh, where two million seedlings will be available for planting.

“This will be followed with the building of a processing facility which will cater to small-scale jatropha planters in Sarawak as well,” Johari said.

He added that the project would be launched soon with the signing of a memoranda of understanding with relevant parties.

Source: The Star

The population of Uma Juman ; a 30-doors longhouse, in those day were about 500 inhabitants. Their main economic activities during those days were subsistence farming, gathering of jungle products, fishing & hunting of wildlife.

How the Folks strived to achieve the Award:
In the early 1950s, the only primary school  nearby Uma Juman was at Long Linau – i.e . about 4 hours paddling trip down-river & the return journey up-river  could takeup to about 12 to 15 hours. However, since early 1960s, Uma Juman then  had its own Primary school (for primary 1 to primary 4 only). For those young folks who proceed to primary 5 & 6, they had to go further down river i.e. to the Belaga Bazaar – the nature of the journey was as described earlier/above.

For secondary education then, the folks had to go even further down-river – i.e. to  Kapit, Kanowit, sibu or either  to Tanjong Lobang,  Miri. How the journey like to get to all these places in those days . . .? well let you all recall the development status of S’wak at that time  & than  give some wild guest. ? ?

Anyway, despite all these odds, hardships & backwardness they had experienced in life during those days, Uma Juman could produced an impressive list of quality, creative, innovative  and outstanding graduates – PhD (1), Masters (8), Bachelors(36) and Diplomas(42).

Dr. Elli Luhat, who topped the list of graduates from this once remotes village, is a renowned scientist for his numerous research works and innovations in Forestry and Agriculture; namely:

1. Tree species for Forest plantation (eg.. Acacia mangium, Gaharuwood & etc. )
2. Aquaculture (eg. breeding of Empurau /Semah“the swimming goldmine” and others . . . 
3. Cultivation of Bio diesel plant (Jatropha Superbulk ) as feedstock for bio diesel production . . .
4. Promotion of Smart- Farming Scheme  using the so called, “ dr.luhat  Smart-farming Technologies”.

Continue reading – click here!

KUCHING: Forester Dr Elli Luhat has a dream – turning his childhood fish-rearing hobby into breeding Sarawak’s most prized fish species commercially.

 The Sarawak Timber Industry Development Corporation forest resource manager has taken a major step in breeding the ikan empurau and ikan semah in several ponds in his house compound in Taman Satria Jaya here.

 Ikan empurau, Sarawak’s most expensive freshwater fish, fetches between RM350 and RM380 a kg while ikan semah fetches between RM150 and RM200 a kg.

 Even at that price, ikan empurau is hard to come by as the fish is rarely found, and only in the interiors of Kapit Division and Baram in northern Sarawak.

 “Ikan empurau survives well in stone-based clear water rivers. The fish can grow up to 20kg.

 “I feel that the fish is tastier than any other fish,” said Dr Luhat, an Orang Ulu from Belaga in Kapit Division.

 He claimed to be the only one who had successfully bred the two types of fish in captivity.

 “I try to simulate the pond environment to as close as the natural habitat through the control of water temperature, oxygen and pH content,” he added.

 Dr Luhat said he obtained some 600 ikan empurau and 1,000 ikan semah fry from the state Agriculture Department more than seven months ago and the fish had now grown to about 700gms.

 Describing the ikan empurau and ikan semah as a “swimming goldmine,” Dr Luhat said: “My dream is to grow ikan empurau to 3kg in three years.

 “At that size, each fish will be worth about RM1,000. It will be a whopping RM500,000 to have 500 mature ikan empurau.”

 He said Australian scientists helping the Agriculture Department to produce the fry for release into the river and streams had encouraged him to go commercial in breeding the fish.

Source: stac.com.my

Phenotype of jatropha curcas scientifically proven suitable for Sarawak

FARMERS everywhere hope for the best yield. But with any crop, you can’t just dust it in and expect a good harvest. Good seeds ensure high yields and, consequently, better returns.

In agriculture, collecting seeds from superior parent stocks has been practised for thousands of years. This results in higher yields and environmentally durable plants. This concept, however, has yet to be widely explored in jatropha practice.

To maximise yields and quality of seeds for plantations, similar principles for collecting jatropha seeds should be observed.

Better quality of offspring plants will result if the seeds used to produce them are collected from superior individuals, stands or orchards. This, however, has been overlooked as far as jatropha in Sarawak is concerned.

Contemporary trends across the world indicate a pronounced shift towards jatropha as a viable and sustainable feedstock for biodiesel compared to other food-based crops such as palm oil and soya.

Jatropha and its derivations, including jatropha biodiesel, have been under the spotlight due to their potential to solve the world’s energy crisis.

There is more than enough reason to be enthusiastic about jatropha’s potential as a biodiesel feedstock. It has been proven that the biofuel from jatropha seeds can run a diesel power engine.

China, India, Indonesia, Cambodia and Thailand are all ahead of Malaysia right from the upstream to the downstream, even coming up with the various by-products from jatropha which include soap, pig feed and medicinal drug to treat some cancer.

There is no estimate on how much jatropha is being planted or cultivated in Sarawak but anecdotal evidence suggests the trend is accelerating.

While the jatropha issue is said to have been technically solved, following the invention of technology to produce biofuel from jatropha seeds, the problem now is getting the right seeds to plant in Sarawak.

Seed quality is determined by many factors, principally purity and germination. However, many other factors such as the variety and ability to bear fruits are important when considering seed purchase for planting.

Like any crops, the choice of seed source is one of the most important decisions faced by local farmers who want to try jatropha planting. An error in judgment can lead to crops with poor growth or poor fruiting.

Within the genetic constitution of the seed is the potential for either good or poor plant growth and fruiting, and since even small increases in growth or fruiting rate can lead to a much enhanced return on investment, the advantages of using the best available seed to grow the planting stock are considerable.

 Seeing the great potential of jatropha, an independent researcher Dr Elli Luhat has personally and quietly done scientific studies on seeds quality for plantations to maximise yield.

He spent nearly five years selecting a pure line of the variety from Nicaragua.

“To have goods seeds, we need to get them from a good phenotype or elite tree. This is the only thing slowing me down, otherwise why do I have to wait because jatropha is a worthy crop,” he said.

Now, Elli has successfully produced good seeds from the variety he names Jatropha Superbulk.

He said it was an elite phenotype of jatropha curcas scientifically proven suitable for Sarawak.

“Jatropha Superbulk was selected through various lengthy scientific process in plant breeding … trial planting, tree selection, tree improvement, seed orchard establishment and such like.

“Under agronomical and sivicultural practices of cropping, it produces impressively high yield on Sarawak’s soil,” he said.

Jatropha Superbulk is a fourth generation plant. Elli said from the first generation plants he grew about five years ago, he selected only the elite or the plus plants for seeds while the rest were cut down.

With second generation seedlings, he replaced the mother plants and the process went on until he got to the present generation plants which also make up his seeds orchard now.

“My selection criteria were mainly based on trees that induced early and heavy fruiting. I didn’t go into pest resistance because so far, whatever prominent plants I have are not infected by disease.”

Elli said when farmers planted the superbulk seeds, they were planting better jatropha, bred to produce a consistently good crop with strong yield potential.

Early in the breeding process, he said he had taken extra steps to check jatropha lines for uniformity of genetic traits. This approach will give superbulk growers a competitive edge in terms of yield and performance.

He believed jatropha farmers would appreciate plants from superbulk seeds, saying this had been proven on his experimental plot.

“The plants seem like they keep yielding,” he said. “The plant health is wonderful. The seed quality for my jatropha superbulk is top notch. Seems like it’s going to put more money in the farmer’s pocket.”

Due to such performance, Elli is introducing his research findings to local farmers.

“So far, I’m satisfied with the yield. Seems very consistent.”

He feels coming up with an elite phenotype of jatropha will help provide local farmers with better seeds and yields.

“I’ll never stop upgrading the process to breed better seeds,” he said.

“I feel there’re better yield capabilities out there with this elite phenotype of jatropha.”

He has about 200 plants three to four months old on the test plot and about 300 plants in his farm near Beratok, Kuching-Serian Road. About 90 per cent of the plants in his seeds orchard have borne fruits with some already harvested.

“When you harvest, you get uniform maturity. I’m very satisfied with this jatropha superbulk, and will most definitely consider increasing my percentage of seeds production in the months to come. They are consistently in the top range of flowering and fruiting.”

Elli is all alone in his research and observations of the yield benefit of his jatropha superbulk. He is also looking into producing hybrid plants through cross breeding the toxic, non-toxic and flower types which he already has in his backyard.

“I need to look at producing the dwarf variety … it’s short but able to induce early and heavy fruiting. The dwarf variety is for easy harvesting,” he said.

“I’m also looking into producing a variety that induces more female than male flowers to ensure heavy fruiting.”

On the oil content of the Jatropha Superbulk, Elli said it was not really proven yet but the length of fire flame on the seeds when burnt indicated the oil content was 35 to 40 per cent.

“The oil content in jatropha seeds is basically consistent regardless of varieties. For it be economically viable to plant, it’s most important to find ways to boost fruitings or productions.”

Elli had given talks on his findings and the potential of Jatropha Superbulk in Sarawak at the Kuala Lumpur Jatropha Summit 2008 titled “Sharing Resources Towards Sustainable Bioenergy Feedstock” on Aug 12 and 13. He was the only Malaysian speaker.

The summit held at Auditorium Technology Park Malaysia in Bukit Jalil, attracted international speakers and participants from China, India, Indonesia, Thailand, Cambodia and the Philippines.

 For professional consultation and inquiries about Jatropha Superbulk, contact Dr Elli at 013 8289795 or email: dr.elliluhat@gmail.com

Source: http://www.theborneopost.com/?p=41074