Bernama 14 Sep 09;
KUCHING, Sept 14 (Bernama) -- A private researcher might just have the solution for Penans facing starvation in Sarawak's remote settlements.
Having formulated an outreach smart farming system for rural communities, all Dr Elli Luhat needs is government collaboration and funding for his projects.
He said he would put forward his proposal -- based on a model that was specially adapted to the needs of the Penans -- to the agriculture and agro-based industry ministry to assist the government solve the problem.
"We know very well the Penans are closely associated with nature, and due to their special lifestyle, it is important to find an agricultural activity that they could effectively be involved in," added Dr Luhat.
He was speaking to reporters after attending the signing of a Memorandum of Cooperation on the implementation of smart farming projects in Sarawak, between DLT Institute and Yayasan Ikhlas Malaysia here Monday.
Dr Luhat, who invented the technology to integrate the environmental and social factors to achieve optimal output from ventures, especially in remote ares like Ulu Baram, Ulu Murum and Bario, said a few Penan graduates had called suggested their community participate in such projects.
Unlike ongoing activities, including oil palm and rice culitivation which the Penans found difficult to adapt, he was confident they could be trained to collect gaharu or agarwood, which are used commercially for the manufacture of perfume, make-up and pharmaceutical products.
In July, it was reported that famine had hit Penans at five major settlements in Belaga due to poor rice harvests, forcing them to cry out to the government for help.
Dr Luhat said the gaharu was one of the valuable products identified as having good potential for implementation under the smart farming programme to help poor farmers in the state's interior.
So far, he has embarked on a collaboration with Universiti Malaysia Sarawak (Unimas) on research and development (R&D) for the jatropha as a cash crop whose potential as biodiesel is being developed under the system.
Through his technology, he said, there was vast potential in the aquaculture industry, including the domestic rearing of the wild empurau fish, which he described as a "swimming goldmine" as it could fetch as high as RM450 per kilogramme.
Meanwhile, DLT Institute managing director Esther Mujan Wang said the company planned to conduct more in-situ trainings and workshops, especially for poor farmers in the rural areas, to impart skills on smart farming, as part of its outreach programme with Yayasan Ikhlas' assistance.
-- BERNAMA
Smarter way for Penans to settle down
Desmond Davidson, The New Straits Times 15 Sep 09;
KUCHING: A private researcher specialising in forestry said he could help the state government redefine its blueprint on getting the Penans to switch from being hunters and gatherers to farmers and planters.
Dr Elli Luhat, who had over the years conducted extensive research on the state's most backward ethnic group, which gave up its nomadic life only 20 years ago, said the current policy of teaching the Penans to plant and farm was flawed.
Despite the success of getting 97 per cent of them to give up their nomadic lifestyle, the Penans still hold strong to their tradition of eking out a living by going into the forest to hunt and gather edible plants for food.
They do not plant or rear livestock.
"Don't force the Penans to do things that they find alien. They won't adapt.
"We know they find it difficult to adopt our methods of farming," Dr Luhat said after witnessing the signing of a memorandum of cooperation between two non-governmental organisations, Yayasan Ikhlas and DLT Institute, on the development of "smart farming" in Sarawak.
The institute is adopting his concept in the smart farming programme.
He pointed to the failure in getting the Penans to plant rice and tapioca as examples of the flaw in the state's policy.
"What they farm should be more suited to their environment.
"It should be more about meeting their needs and what they like to do."
Dr Luhat said he could assist the state government in formulating a smart farming system for the Penans.
His system seeks to harmonise the social, economic and environmental factors to achieve optimal benefits for the farmers.
He said as such, better results could be achieved if the Penans were taught to do things that they were familiar with, like planting the agar wood (gaharu), which they often gathered for their own consumption.
Planting the scented wood, he added, could also uplift the economic standing of the Penan as they could also sell the excess.
He said the wood could fetch as much as US$150,000 (RM523,500) per kg and the income derived could help them get out of the poverty trap.
Other economic activities "that are their thing" to undertake, Dr Luhat believed, were the rearing of ikan empurau and ikan kelah and wild boar.
The ikan empurau, often described as the "swimming gold", fetches RM450 per kg in the market.
