Caretaker Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Food Industry I (MAFI), Datuk Seri Haji Ahmad bin Hamzah today officiated MARDI Innovation Day 2022 and launched 5 MARDI Innovation products.
The MARDI Innovation Day held every year is a platform for MARDI people to present innovative research results in line with MARDI’s trust and responsibility as the country’s main agro-food research institution. With the theme of “R&D Empowering Food Security”, the theme coincides with the current global issues experienced by the whole world including Malaysia which is faced with a food production crisis affected by post-Covid-19 recovery, plus foreign wars, climate change that tapering and so on. As a result, food security in the country is increasingly threatened and this affects activities and the food supply chain for the agriculture and food industry.
MARDI always applies new approaches in research to produce technological innovations for the agricultural sector and the food industry. The focus of the research conducted is to address related issues to reduce import dependency and increase domestic production capacity to guarantee the country’s agro-food security.
Innovation and technology are MARDI’s work culture. The tradition of organizing this MARDI Innovation Day has been started since 2011. Research culture is not limited to Management and Professional (P&P) group officers only. MARDI also provides space for implementing staff so that they don’t miss out on mediating their ideas, innovations and creativity through the Innovative & Creative Group Convention (KIK) event and the MARDI Grassroots innovation competition (AUM).
At the ceremony, Datuk Seri Ahmad also launched 5 of MARDI’s latest innovation products that will benefit the community as well as the country. The products are:
i) Floc Test Technology for Rice Disease Detection
ii) Nano Formulation Technology for Rice Diseases
iii) Slow-release energy bar – Periodic Energy Release Bar
iv) High-energy Candy – High Energy Candy and
v) Recovery Sports Drink – Sports Recovery Drink
