June 23- Malaysian Cocoa Board (MCB) had organized National Cocoa Seminar 2022 in The Magellan Sutera Resort, Kota Kinabalu, Sabah from 22 to 23 June 2022. The event was officiated by Datuk Willie anak Mongin, Deputy Minister at the Ministry of Plantation Industries and Commodities.  The event was attended by MCB staff, cocoa-related industry players, cocoa farmers, and entrepreneurs. During the event, the head of Laboratory for Plantation System Technology and Mechanization, Institute of Plantation Studies (IKP), Assoc. Prof. Dr Nazmi Mat Nawi was invited to present a paperwork entitled “Future Technology with Robotic and Mechanization Application in Plantation Management, Processing and Production of Cocoa Product”.

During his talk, Dr. Nazmi presented the current and future technologies related to mechanization and robotic which could potentially be applied in cocoa plantation. He also presented local machinery and robotic design which could be modified to meet the requirement of cocoa plantation. The advantages of these technologies over current manual methods were also highlighted. However, to modernise the cocoa plantation with the technologies, the hectarage of the cocoa plantation should first be increased. Cooperative farming system may also be established among smallholders to justify the use of modern and large farming technologies. Alternatively, an independent service provider may be employed to run the machine in the cocoa farm belongs to smallholders.

Date of Input: 15/08/2022 | Updated: 15/08/2022 | ainzubaidah