Oyster mushroom cultivation project a varsity initiative to empower Pulau Tuba community

LANGKAWI, July 21 -- Brighter days are beckoning for residents of Pulau Tuba following an oyster mushroom cultivation project mooted under the Northern Zone University for Society (U4S) programme by Universiti Utara Malaysia (UUM) on the island.

UUM Centre for University-Industry Collaboration (CUIC) director Dr Shahrina Othman said that through the U4S programme, the varsity would act as the main secretariat in addition to Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM), Universiti Pendidikan Sultan Idris (UPSI) and Universiti Malaysia Perlis (UniMAP).

The U4S is a programme aimed at empowering the community so that they can develop prosperously, in line with their needs.

"Through this oyster mushroom project, the CUIC will focus on crop cultivation and product innovation. The CUIC will provide guidance to participants on the construction of mushroom houses as well as sharing theoretical and practical knowledge related to oyster mushroom cultivation with the community.

"Other than the cultivation of oyster mushroom, the CUIC has also implemented a mengkuang (screw pine) mat weaving community empowerment project through the transfer of knowledge as well as knowledge sharing with regard to the basics of entrepreneurship,” she said.

Shahrina said that besides these two projects, U4S has also implemented an aquaponics project involving vegetable cultivation and rearing of tilapia fish simultaneously as well as the ‘co & coal’ project involving the production of charcoal from coconut shells which are then processed to become cosmetic-care items.

She said these community projects were aimed at increasing the participants’ current income by about 20 to 30 per cent.

“It is hoped that with the implementation of these projects will benefit the community of Pulau Tuba in raising their quality of life,” she said.

Meanwhile, Mohd Fadzlan Nor, 38, not only agreed to join the programme but also offered one of his sheds as a site for the pioneer oyster mushroom cultivation project.

“When offered the chance to be involved, I immediately agreed. I want to try new things so that I can set an example for the people of Pulau Tuba and encourage them to be involved in agriculture,” he told Bernama recently.

Pulau Tuba, which is located about 15 minutes by boat from two locations - the Marble Jetty and Pekan Rabu Tourism Jetty in Kuah, is the third biggest island in Langkawi.

-- BERNAMA