Cameron Highlands growers given six months to reduce pesticide use before stricter enforcement

source

Saturday, 22 Jun 2019 12:42 PM MYT

CAMERON HIGHLANDS (Bernama): Cameron Highlands vegetable growers have been given six months to reduce their use of insecticides before stricter enforcement takes place, says Deputy Agriculture and Agro-based Minister Sim Tze Tzin.

He said the heavy use of pesticides isn’t just harmful to growers and consumers, but damages the environment and causes produce to be unsuitable for export.

In helping farmers make the switch to biological control agents, Sim said: "MARDI (the Malaysian Agricultural Research and Development Institute) and the Agriculture Department have produced the Diadegma and Cotesia parasitoids, as well as the Tiger Fly, on a large scale in the lab for use by farmers to control Plutella moth and leaf miner infestations.”

Today, at a biological control agent launch press conference attended by Mardi director-general Datuk Dr Mohamad Roff Mohd Nor, and Agriculture Department director-general Datuk Jamal Harizan Yang Razali, Sim said economic analysis showed the technique could bring in cost savings of up to RM2,000 a season.

He said the government will work with NGOs, local authorities and farmers’ associations to improve understanding of biocontrol techniques versus pesticides before the former - which has been proven to work in most agricultural regions - is introduced across the country.

Since farming was introduced to the Pahang district in the 1930s, Cameron Highlands has become the country’s main producer of vegetables and flowers, aside from being a world-famous tourist destination.

The state is the biggest producer of vegetables, chiefly cabbage, with an output of 68,500 metric tonnes grown over 2,770ha, and with much of it coming from Cameron Highlands. - Bernama

Community aquarium revival

In the process of reviving the indoor community aquarium. This (the water) is currently the main source of plant food. The only other source is a smaller tank used for Betta fry.

Still lots of snails. Added a few inhabitants like a couple of platies and rasboras (not in the picture). Water changes about 5% twice a week. Stopped adding salt coz I read it was bad.

12June2019 update. The tank is well on the road to recovery.

The long time residents are visible in this shot... the solitary pleco and serpae tetra. All others are new additions. I am catching a couple of snails and crushing their shells so that they become food for the fish. That should make this a self sustaining tank.

Potato

Just curious what will happen when the potato starts sprouting shoots.

29June2019 update:
We transferred it to a bigger pot.

The leaves grew quite a bit. I think if we ever get lots of surplus soil I might try growing it properly in a big sack.

News - Water pollution

Reason to start farming your own fish and vegetables...

The Star - Tuesday, 28 May 2019
Serious water pollution in Penang

GEORGE TOWN: Penang is facing serious water pollution issues, both on the island and the mainland.

The sea off Teluk Bahang is said to be contaminated by heavy metals while in Nibong Tebal, the water at the Sungai Tengah river mouth is black, a problem fishermen there claim has been plaguing them for about 10 years.

The situation in the north of the island looks far more serious. Weeks ago only a few fish were found dead. Now, fishes are dying by the thousands.

This has deprived fish breeders of their source of income as thousands of ikan kerapu (grouper) are dying in fish cages.

“We use to sell about 500kgs of fish at markets and restaurants during the Chinese New Year and about 100kgs at normal times,” said breeder Lim Suan Gian, 64, at his farm in Teluk Bahang.

“However, we only managed to sell about 40 to 50kgs over the last two months as most of them ended up dead.

“We are baffled. The Fisheries Department took samples of the dead fish several times but as of today, there has been no indication of what caused the deaths,” Lim said, adding that he suffered losses of about RM130,000 since April.

Another breeder, Ooi Hye Hin, 57, said he took up a RM300,000 loan from Agro Bank to buy fish fry and now cannot pay the RM3,000 monthly payments because of this.

“Both Lim and I have made five police reports as we have no other income and are not be able to service our bank loans,” Ooi said.

He said the dead fish at the farms would have to be thrown away while those that were still alive would remain in the cages.

“We have stopped sending our fish supply to customers since April,” he added.

A check by The Star saw a white foam on the water surface surrounding the five fish farms.

There was also the spread of algae blooms in the vicinity.

“We are not experts but the blackish sea water is not oil or mud, as fish would not die because of that,” said breeder Wong Tien Swee, 37.

“The Department of Environment (DoE) and the Fisheries Department must find a solution fast before the entire aquaculture industry in this area goes under” he said.

“Some of my friends have invested about RM15,000 to RM20,000 each in my business.

“Now, I have to tell them their investments are in jeopardy,” said Wong.

Fisheries Department director Noraisyah Abu Bakar said she had written to the Agro Bank, requesting it to extend the date of Ooi’s monthly instalments.

“I understand the predicament of the fish farmers,” she said.

“We have sent samples to our lab but it will take some time before we can determine the cause of death,” Noraisyah said, adding she could confirm if the fish are safe for consumption until then.

Noraisyah added that she was also working closely with Professor Datuk Dr Aileen Tan, the Centre for Marine and Coastal Studies (Cemacs) director.

Prof Tan was the first to discover the high levels of nickel contamination in the seas of Teluk Bahang.

“We just can’t conclude that it was nickel as the DoE needs to confirm the source,” said Noraisyah.

“It would be premature for now to confirm if the fishes were killed due to nickel poisoning.”

Cemacs had reported that the level of nickel was 1,038% more than it should be in the seas near the National Park and 982% higher at the fish farms in Teluk Bahang.

Two weeks ago, Prof Tan said that the Universiti Sains Malaysia’s Chemistry Department discovered nickel in the waters off Teluk Bahang at 0.472 parts per million (ppm), 944% more than the standard 0.005ppm in typical sea water.

She said lead was found at 184% above normal or 0.804ppm, when it should be only 0.0005ppm while cadmium was 32% higher at 0.065ppm instead of 0.002ppm.

State Environment Committee chairman Phee Boon Poh said there were no reports of fishes dying or swimmers being affected by the pollution and the DoE was monitoring the situation.

“We will know the main cause of the issue and the source when the results of tests have been released,” he said.

Reasons to grow your own food

This is a common sight behind restaurants... washing dishes on the street!!

Sorry for blurry pic

Seafood lovers should eat less shellfish due to heavy metal poisoning risk

Source

Seafood lovers should eat less shellfish due to heavy metal poisoning risk
Monday, 08 Apr 2019 2:48 PM MYT

KUALA LUMPUR (Bernama): Seafood lovers living on the west coast of Peninsular Malaysia are being warned to reduce their shellfish consumption because of the risk of heavy metal poisoning.

Universiti Malaysia Terengganu (UMT) School of Marine  and  Environmental Sciences marine biology programme senior lecturer, Assoc Prof Dr Ong Meng Chuan, said a team of 25 scientists and researchers detected a high concentration of heavy metals like arsenic, cadmium, plumbum and mercury around estuaries and harbours in the Straits of Malacca during a scientific voyage from March 13-22.

He said findings reveal the waters of Johor, Port Klang and Pulau Pinang are at a higher risk of heavy metal contamination.

"This situation indirectly leads to the contamination of a food source because it is in the nature of shellfish to stay put and not migrate in search of food.

"Obviously, if the water is contaminated with heavy metals, it will be passed up the food chain," he told Bernama.

The marine expedition using UMT's research vessel, RV Discovery, was carried out in conjunction with the Langkawi International Maritime and Aerospace 2019 (LIMA '19) exhibition and sailed from Kuala Terengganu to Tanjung Lembung, Langkawi.

The team collected samples from more than 45 stations along two shipping routes: the Straits of Malacca and South China Sea.

Dr Ong said many don't realise the long-term health consequences of eating contaminated food from the sea.

"Heavy metal bioaccumulation takes a long time to be detected. The build-up from eating arsenic- or mercury-contaminated food can lead to various disorders," he said.

He said the Straits of Malacca is more polluted compared with the South China Sea because it is shallow and narrow, and experiencing growth in industrial activities in the port and estuary areas.

He said river currents in estuarine waters were weaker, allowing heavy metals to easily sink and accumulate on the floor of the estuary.

Dr Ong said the government and relevant powers should ensure strict enforcement of the law to tackle heavy metal pollution.

"Perhaps a heavier penalty or tougher sentence is needed because we don't want another Sg Kim Kim incident which affected the health of over 2,000 people,” he added. - Bernama

We need a plan

Updated 13Dec2019

Whatever we are trying is not really working. And there are too many components to keep track of. Time to draw a plan. Maybe that will also help us organise it in our heads.

Did some "digging"  and found this great site for drawing out garden plans. It's called Gardena. I don't know how to draw or use drawing software well, and yet managed this...

But had to improvise a bit... for example I used a trampoline to draw the compost bins, and white picket fence as the water tubes :)

Here are some pics of our place from different angles, to give you an idea what it really looks like.

The main garden which will house the ponds and vege boxes. It is the main green bit you see in the right half of the diagram above...

The 3 feet wide tiled & raised will have some kind of seat.storage maybe 

The tiny strip of garden we have on the other side (left side of the diagram) will have some plants , compost bins, soil and stuff storage. You can see it here.

Btw the back dog is a stray that we let in occasionally. Zoey has quite a few stray friends that pop by to see her at different times of the day!!