Integration of biosystems engineering for mango production in tropical greenhouse.
Mahmad Nor Jaafar, Rezuwan Kamaruddin, Farook R. S. M., Ali Yeon M. S., Ammar Zakaria, Mohd Hishamuddin C. M., Ahmad Azudin Nordin
Author Affiliation: Institute of Sustainable Agrotechnology, Universiti Malaysia Perlis,02100 Padang Besar, Perlis, Malaysia.
Advances in Environmental Biology 8 : 108-111
Abstract : In view of the looming climate change, population expansion and depletion of limiting resources, food production will be the mainstay of new economic activity in the near future. However, it is not going to be business as usual. New technology driven by mass innovation will be the lynched pin. The appropriate technology to sustain the systems of bio-base production, must uplift the system's economic viability mutually inclusive of social and ecological need. The need to get more from less, become more complex; as the natural ecological niche for food production diminishes, while the economics of production get excruciating difficult, and at the same time the social expectation are more demanding. The issues of getting to the next sustainable level must be tackled in a holistic manner, by an integrated approaches that would called for the convergences of biological, engineering and entrepreneurial approached. A case in view is the dwindling mango industry in Perlis which had languish into a technology trap that limit it productivity and sustainability of the farming communities had been the unsettled challenge. Recent move by UniMAP at realigning research approached to tackle the productivity problems of Harumanis, an iconic Mango from Perlis, by integrated biosystems approached had paved ways for the industry into a new league. The combination of specially blended portfolio of technologies for production of Harumanis, according to demand, will be the catalyst of agriculture transformation in the dominantly agriculture-centric state of Perlis. This paper will discuss the application integration of technologies for biosystems, from innovation stage to transformation.