2,000 pineapple mushroom blocks distributed for the benefit of the Tuaran community

TUARAN, 2 March 2024 - A total of 200 residents around Tuaran participated in a workshop producing pineapple mushrooms from the research of Universiti Malaysia Pahang Al-Sultan Abdullah (UMPSA) lecturers led by Associate Professor Dr. Aizi Nor Mazila Ramli by using waste from pineapple plantation as the main substrate for mushroom blocks.

A total of 2000 mushroom blocks were distributed to residents in Kampung Batangan, Roun and Labuaya.

According to Dr.  Aizi, the idea of the research sparked when she saw the potential of the plentiful pineapple waste.

“The pineapple waste has great potential to be used in the production of other products such as oyster mushroom blocks.

“This time, UMPSA has the opportunity to share its expertise in mushroom cultivation techniques using pineapple waste because it is easier to implement, cheaper and suitable for commercialisation on a wider scale and market,” she said, who was present with other researchers under the coordination of the Research and Innovation Department.

This innovative product targets the community, especially the B40 low-income group, by helping them generate income in the mushroom industry in Malaysia in addition to providing additional income to pineapple agricultural entrepreneurs in Malaysia.

The UMPSA Vice-Chancellor, Professor Dato’ Ts. Dr. Yuserrie Zainuddin hoped that local residents could utilise this workshop as one of the initiatives to help target groups increase their income.

“Among UMPSA’s initiatives to assist community capacity building is through the transfer of knowledge and technology produced by UMPSA academics to engage the community through the concept of social innovation in helping the socio-economic improvement of the community while building a continuous collaboration between the university and the community,” he said, who was present to meet the community here.

Also present were the Community Welfare Officer (CWO), Roger Aloysius Jounoh and the Chief Executive of Yayasan UMP, Mohd. Jamil Ja’afar.

This programme was part of activities carried out in conjunction with the Kembara Prihatin@Negeri Bawah Bayu 2.0 Programme.

The programme involved 55 UMPSA Kilau volunteers from the Yayasan UMPSA Squad with collaborators namely Universiti Malaysia Sabah (UMS), Kolej Teknologi Yayasan Sabah (KTYS) and Polytechnic Kota Kinabalu assisting the community in Tuaran with technology-related programmes, education programmes and community programmes since 26 February and ending on 3 March 2024.

By: Mimi Rabita Abdul Wahit, Centre for Corporate Communications
Translation by: Dr.  Rozaimi  Abu  Samah, Faculty of Chemical and Process Engineering Technology