PUTRAJAYA, July 26 — An ecosystem that encourages the commercialisation of products from the Malaysian Cocoa Board’s (LKM) research and development (R&D) efforts needs to be established to produce more quality cocoa-based products.
Plantation Industries and Commodities Minister Datuk Dr Mohd Khairuddin Aman Razali said the cocoa sector’s performance needs to be strengthened to enable Malaysia to remain competitive and take advantage of the growing international market.
He said this when officiating the virtual Malaysian Cocoa Board Annual Scientist Workshop (MASW) 2021, themed ‘Transforming R&D Culture Towards Market- Driven Research’, today.
According to him, the cocoa sector contributed RM6.23 billion to the country’s export revenue in 2020 and RM1.64 billion to the nation’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in the same year — an increase of 5.4 per cent compared to RM1.56 billion in 2019.
Mohd Khairuddin said LKM aims to develop more than 10 innovations or new technologies based on the Internet of Things (IoT) and Industrial Revolution 4.0 (IR 4.0) technologies.
He noted that LKM’s R&D projects started since the Eighth Malaysia Plan (8MP) (2001-2005), and to-date, 105 projects with allocations totalling RM75.3 million have been carried out.
Under the 11MP, 17 R&D projects worth RM42.7 million had been implemented, while 630 high-impact publications and technical reports were published, he said, adding that nine R&D projects worth RM14.1 million are currently being implemented under 12MP.
The minister noted that LKM’s research efforts received 60 recognitions at home and abroad for innovations and technologies produced through R&D activities, while 38 innovations and technologies produced under the 11MP had obtained intellectual property rights.
He said LKM has focused on market demand-based research since 2014, resulting in the development of 63 technologies and products to produce new cocoa clones, orchard management technologies, disease control and processing of the commodity as well as the production of cocoa-based food and non-food products.
On the same note, Mohd Khairuddin said the collaboration between LKM and the Malaysian Technology Development Corporation — which began in 2019 under the Innovation to Market programme — will be continued to enable the commercialisation of LKM’s R&D products.
