Cameron Highlands growers urged to use biocontrol agents, not insecticides

CAMERON HIGHLANDS, June 22 (Bernama) – Cameron Highlands vegetable growers are being given six months to reduce their use of insecticides before stricter enforcement takes place, said Agriculture and Agro-based Deputy 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 further added: “Economic analysis shows the technique is able to bring cost savings of up to RM2,000 a season”.

He said the government will work with non-governmental organisations, the local authorities and farmers’ associations in Cameron Highlands to improve the 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 and chiefly cabbage, with an output of 68,500 metric tonnes grown over 2,770ha, and with much of it coming from Cameron Highlands.

-- BERNAMA