THE AGRI & AQUA

CULTURING NEWSLETTER
To Further Malaysias Agriculture & Aquaculture Industry

Issue 13 November 2012

Introduction
THE AGRI & AQUA CULTURING NEWSLETTER is prepared with the intention to provide the reader with information about the agriculture and aquaculture industry in Malaysia, while gathering insights and information on industry development and practices, as well as training opportunities offered by the Government and Private sector. The Newsletter seeks to gather like-minded individuals who are willing to share ideas and experiences in the field.

FROM THE CULTIVATORS COUCH:

Well, the Bioeconomy Transformation Programme has been launched recently, and word is, there are many new opportunities for agriculturists, especially with regards to contract farming. In keeping with the trends in the agriculture industry, the team will be going through and digesting the details of this new government initiative, and hopefully, will be able to provide some insights and opportunities for our fellow readers. In the time being, please continue to enjoy the articles provided by our contributors!

CONTENT OF THE NOVEMBER 2012 ISSUE:

Pruning of the Jackfruit Trees by Johnny Lak My Little Farm 11 by Raymond Good Health and Anti Cancer Ling Jiao Trapa Bicornis by Senny Ong Grow Your Own Building a Simple Hydroponic System by MJ Joel Upcoming Events

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Eating is an agricultural act. ~ Wendell Berry

If you have itchy fingers for writing articles about Agriculture or Aquaculture, and wish to contribute your knowledge and experiences, please contact us:

Email: agrinaquanewsletter@gmail.com

Disclaimer: Reasonable care have been utilised in the preparation of the content and text of the Agri & Aqua Culturing Newsletter (henceforth referred as the Newsletter). Notwithstanding this, due to constant changes and advancement in the agriculture and aquaculture industries, we are not able to ensure the accuracy or reliability of the information provided in the Newsletter. For this reason, the reader is advised to undertake necessary due diligence on the information before relying on the same for any purpose whatsoever. The publisher, key contributors, and related associates disclaim any and all liability whatsoever and howsoever occasioned relating to the information provided in and content of, the Newsletter. We do not endorse any opinion, advice or statement published in the Newsletter Permissions and reprints: All rights reserved. Reproduction without express and written permission is strictly prohibited. To request permission to republish in any form whatsoever, please contact: agrinaquanewsletter@gmail.com

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Pruning of the Jackfruit Trees

This article will be a short one with pictures & explanation, as they say A Picture Speaks A Thousand Words Below is the recommended practice for pruning Jackfruit trees as prepared by the Department of Agriculture.

But the method that I am learnt and adopted is that I want to make all my jackfruit trees look like a SHORT & FAT Christmas tree. Why you may ask? There is a problem now with workforce thus by adopting this method we are able to manage

the farm on our own with minimal workforce. Its easier to bag & fertilise and harvest the fruit. All my jackfruit trees below are 10 months old as of November 2012.

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I had top pruned all the trees, which would force them to grow horizontally.

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This is the method that I practice and adopt. Feel free to critic and give me feedback or ask more about this. Email me : johnnylak1980@gmail.com Heck you can even arrange to come to my farm. Happy Farming.

Article by Johnny Lak

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My Little Farm 11
Project Agarwood / Gaharu Our expectation is to use this as a supplementary crop, for land that we cant use. Plant and maintain it for 6 years and above, then inoculate it and harvest it after 2 more years in stages. Theoretically, the older the tree, the greater the wood volume and more resins after inoculation. From the details that I manage to gather, it should be a calculated risk if we manage to plant Agarwood with a very low cost and on land that is idle. I feel that Agarwood has been wrongly projected as a 'get rich fast' scheme, which I'm sure does not happen in agriculture. It's being linked to the word 'Millionaire' and this I guess create the big misconception. Agarwood, Eaglewood, Uod, Oodh, Gaharu or are some of the names that I manage to find. Our Agarwood project was mooted after I discovered a couple of surviving small plant-lets surviving overgrown weeds and our herbicide spray. We managed to 'rescue' about 10 of the plants. This gave me the idea that since it's so hardy, we can plant this in our rubber plantation, on the high gradient slope, that we would not be able to plant any other trees.

With the 'Millionaire' tag and high projected revenue, the seeds, sapling and inoculation cost are charged at a high premium price in Malaysia. In order to keep the cost low, shall have to make our own sapling from seeds. My search took me to Thailand, and this supplier is able to offer a price that I am comfortable with. USD120 for a kilo of fresh seeds. Order one kilogram of seeds of the Aquilaria Subintegra type. Was told that one kilogram of seeds consist of about 4,000 ~ 5,000 seeds. Seeds are available (fresh) from August till October.

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collapsed and our men rebuilt. The raise beds were also prepared.

Instruction given was simple, keep the seeds fresh and plant as soon as possible. Soak the seeds for about 3 hours prior to planting. Germinate on a raise bed of about 12 centimeter, in a cool area, planting it at about 1 centimeter deep with the tail up. Water daily. Germination can be expected in about 3 weeks. The germination rate depends greatly on the freshness of the seeds. Can be transplant into poly bags when it grows 2 to 4 leafs. Lets hope we have high germination in the coming weeks.

Our nurseries were made too large as we do not know approximately what size was required. 1 kilo of seeds occupied only almost 1 raised bed. After planting the seeds, we found tracks of dog. Hence we quickly fence up the sides with a 30% shade. This shall also keep the chicken (neighbors) out. Chicken tends to scratch on the raised beds, displacing the seeds and reduce germination rate.

We prepared a nursery with netting shade of 90%. This 90% shades are quite heavy due to the closeness of the shade. Our initial form-work

Start pruning our bigger Agarwood. The idea is to prune it so that it produces a single large tall trunk. Bigger trunks can house "larger" resins when it form compared to small trunks and branches. The pruned branches, we kept and try to propagate the cuttings.

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Hope that our Project Agarwood shall progress smoothly and be a success. Stay tune for more updates.

Article by Raymond

Good Health Anti Cancer Ling Jiao ~ Trapa Bicornis

Usually during month of October and November. Trapa Bicornis (Ling Jiao) can be found in most of the market. The uniform in structure and shape looks like a bulls horn, black in color, hardshell and like a bat ~ We called it Ling Jiao, because its contour has the the angle, in Chinese called as Jiao. What is Trapa bicornis

Scientific name: Trapa Bicornis ~ Also known as water caltrop, Jesuit nut, Ram Horn Nut, horned water chestnut, in Chinese name: Ling Jiao, Cantonese name it as Ling Kok, in Latin: Trapa bicornis.

And it is like other aquatic plants.

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Trapa Bicornis, Ram Horn Nut or Ling Jiao is plant grows in water with the leaves float on the water, and the fruits droop in the water. It can be cultivated as floating plants in aquarium, or in ponds. In slightly acidic water and gives full sun. Found in still and slow-moving water systems in warm temperate regions, its centre of origin is china, Taiwan and is used for food and medicinal plant or nut. Ling Jiao is a seasonal food in Taiwan for Mid-Autumn Festival Called Water Caltrops Festival.

Its Nutrients and healing effect This raw nut, rich in carbohydrate and fat, protein, glucose, multivitamins, like Vitamin B1, B2, C, Calcium, Phosphorus and Iron. Its nutritional value may with other nuts set-off. The flesh of this nut is thick and rich nutty taste. Nature is cool, commonly use to allaying fever, quenches thirst, sobers up, detoxification and awake the brain, good for spleen, and may prevent and treat the chronic diarrhea. Good dietary foods as it is easily feeling full after ingestion, do not over consumption in order to avoid dyspepsia. It has anti-cancer, antipyretic (fever reducer) and tonic medicinal effect. The taste How about the taste, it is tasteless and shall be good to chop and add in to dishes to add flavor. Many Asians boil or steam them in the shell as a snack. You can also roast them and taste similar to chestnuts. They are eaten whole or ground for flour, making into ice cream, soup, dessert, Jelly and healthy snack. We usually eat them as snack. It is famous street side roasted snack in China, Taiwan and Asia countries. Multiples Medicinal Value in Ling Jiao: Bears the hunger, and enlivens Strengthen vital energy Clear heat and sober up Its sterilization, promotion wound healing, alleviation legs and waist physique sore Anticancer effect

Taiwan is the largest producer of Ling Jiao ~ water caltrops. The nut harvesting begins in from July and continues through fall, peaking around September and October. Ling Jiao or Water Caltrop is primary growth in Europe and Asia. It grows in the pond, the river moors in the warm climate wet muddy land. This water plant growing from seeding, blossoms and bears fruit, only needs 90 to 120 days. And the harvest period to recovering time for next harvest is about 10 to 15 days, continuously harvest for 7 8 times in a harvest session up to 4 months.

The other benefits of taking it may increase the abdomen feeling full, and its not easy to pile up the fat, suitable in retinitis simplex obesity, losing weight as dietary food to replace the staple food.

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Ling Jiao Barley Soup or Porridge Ingredients: 200g Ling Jiao (removed hard-shelled), 30g of Barley, Water 1500cc

Method of cooking: 1. Wash and brush Ling Jiao with running water thoroughly, soak in salt water for hour. Use the Ling Jiao with hard shell to cook with water. 2. After boiling for 20 minutes, remove the hard shell, use only the flesh and add in barley, Cook it for 1 hour. Boil it like soup or porridge. Add in rock sugar (optional). 3. Remove from heat and serve warm. Benefits: It can strengthen the vision, also has certain inhibitory action to the cancer cell. Recipe to Treat Excessive blood flows during Menstrual period

Medicinal benefits: In Chinese Herbal therapeutic way, it acts as medicinal herbs to treat cancer and also as antitoxic food. Good for the spleen and stomach, invigorate the kidney, and edible for treating lung and stomach cancer, carcinoma esophagi, rectal cancer and carcinoma of urinary bladder and so on has the auxiliary therapeutic healing action. Ling Jiao Herbal recipe and cooking method:

Ling Jiao brown sugar soup Ingredients: Cooking Ling Jiao with Barley Soup or Porridge regular intakes is helpful to treat the lung cancer, stomach cancer, carcinoma of uterus, and breast cancer.

Ling jiao 250g Brown sugar 3 tbs. 1000cc water

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Method: 1. Cleans and brush the Ling Jiao thoroughly, soak in salt water for hour. 2. Bring water to boil, after boiling, put in Ling jiao to boil in low heat for 1 hour or till it is soften. 3. Add in brown sugar till dissolve. Remove from heat. 4. Eat the nuts and drink the soup. Healing effect: Calms the nerves, excessive flows of Menstruation blood. control

To help in sober you up: Add sugar to this drink, it quenches thirst and ease bothersome thirsty. Note: Do not throw away the hard shell, as it is good medicine for treating gastric hemorrhage patient. Boil the hard shell with water and take it as tea. Red Dates Goji Ling Jiao Soup

Note: The brown sugar is named as black sugar and has rich glucose as well as vitamin and mineral substance. In Chinese medicinal thought that black sugar is temperate, can be blood tonic profits for blood stagnation, and invigorate the spleen, stomach and Qi. For treating Stomach and Gastric Ulcer Simply cook the 120g of whole Ling Jiao with hard-shell in 1000cc of water. Boil in water for half hour. Drink 1 cup of soup 3 times a day after three meals for one month.

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Ingredients:

Ling Jiao (remove hard-shell) 50g Red Dates 10g Wolfberry (Goji) 10g 2 Lemon slice Water 1500 cc

Method:

Ingredients:

Ling Jiao (Water Caltrop) 200g Radix Astragali (Wang Qi) 15g Water 1500cc

1. Put water in pot to boil, add in all ingredients to boil in low heat for 1 hour. 2. Remove from heat. Eat all the ingredients and soup. Sever warm. Benefits: This soup has anticancer treatment effect, clear vision, make up the vitality, as the spleen host transports and controls the blood, the main muscle and four limbs, it benefits spleen then nutritious the whole body circulation function. Ling Jiao Radix Astragali (Wang Qi) Soup This soup has invigorates the kidney function, may treat the sychnuria and urination disorder, the wet dream, leucorrhea like whitish vaginal discharge.

Radix Astragali (Wang Qi) in Chinese medicinal effect is to restores vital energy, improve blood circulation, regular intake can strengthen the curative effect mutually. In addition the US researchers also pointed out that the Radix Astragali may also treat other immune system disease, especially has the effect to the virulent infection and chronic illness. Method: 1. Wash and Clean Ling Jiao with running water, soak in salt water for 1/2 hour. 2. Bring water to boil, Ling Jiao (Walter Caltrop) with hard shell to cook for 20 minutes. 3. Remove the Ling Jiao from pot, smashed open the hard shell with nut opener. 4. Put the hard shell and flesh back to the pot. Put in Radix Astragali herb and cook for another 1/2 hour. 5. Remove from heat, remove Radix Astragali and hard shell from the pot. 6. Serve warm. Eat the nuts and soup only.

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Benefits: This soup has invigorates the kidney function, may treat the sychnuria and urination disorder, the wet dream, leucorrhea like whitish vaginal discharge. The harmful side effect of taking raw with caution Ling Jiao or Water Caltrop is nutritious and delicious food, cook them in the shell or peel them first. It needs to steam, boil, roasted or fried them before you can eat them, as it contains harmful toxins and harmful parasite in raw state, which can be vectors for trematodes of significance are intestinal fluke and liver fluke. When eating them in raw try not to bites open the hard shell with your teeth, make sure you wash it with running water first, it is best to use nut opener or smashed to remove the hard shell and clean thoroughly with water again. Those water vegetables need to be carefully peeled and washed, always clean in running water and brush thoroughly then soak them in salt water to eliminate toxins. For the best is to neutralize it by heat or cooking it. Ling Jioa or Water Caltrop contains toxins in raw which must be destroyed by boiling to render them safe to eat. Usually after removing the hard shell, make sure the fruit pulp or flesh must also flush again with water thoroughly. Otherwise, it is easy infected by harmful parasite. Due to it grows in the ponds or contaminated water, like those water plant e.g water chestnut, water lotus, water lily and Water caltrop - Ling jiao as well, may be contaminated with tiny organism parasite, as the outer layer of its hard shell easy affected by numerous trematodes parasites, taking raw with unwashed Ling Jiao Water Caltrop or any water plants may consumed infective parasite that transmitted to human body, trematodes causes disease to gastrointestinal like intestinal fluke that infection usually asymptomatic

with malnutrition, the influence growth become emaciated may cause anemia, or anorexia. This parasite itself has strong absorptivity attraction which adsorption firmly on human intestines wall, cause intestines mucous membrane inflammation, dropsy even forms ulcer. If one discovered that abdominal pain disgustingly with vomiting and diarrhea, bowel movement with foul-smelling, loose stools, unfortunately you may be affected by the harmful parasite from the hard shell of Ling Jiao or Water Caltrop. Therefore, take precaution when eating raw or unwashed Ling Jiao or Water Caltrop with proper preparation in cleansing and cooking it with hygienic way. Caution: When taking Ling Jiao ~ Water Caltrop what need to remind that is has clearing heat and detoxification effect, in order to avoid causes distension of the abdomen do not over consumption with it. For diabetic people, it is prohibited to over ingestion due to starch content is high, which may causes the instantaneous blood sugar to elevate and raised rapidly, the diabetic patient should take the right amount ingestion this nut and avoid taking excessively.

Note: Restores vital energy with the traditional Chinese medicine, It is suggested that the warm and cold is best balanced in using herbal raw material. For the alternative healing effect and to avoid over reaction as the prescription may not suitable for certain people. Consult your physicians or doctor before taking any alternative healing remedies.

Article by Senny Ong http://sennyong.blogspot.com

Disclaimer: Most important is to understand what is right for your health condition, although herbs are safe for some people, if you wish to try it is advisable for you to consult with your holistic health practitioner or doctor first. No matter what type of healing herbs or alternative healing method, we still have to be careful in consumption, start off slowly and minimize it to prevent overdoses with it.

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Grow Your Own Building a Simple Hydroponic System

In the last issue, we dealt with various hydroponics systems, noting the advantages and disadvantages of those systems. In this issue, we will be looking at constructing a simple water culture system (a.k.a. floating raft system) using mostly recycled materials The Basics Before we start, however, it is worth refreshing some key points about hydroponic systems. Overall, the average home hydroponic system usually consists of the following few basic parts: (i) Growing chamber (or tray) This holds the root system. This can be made from many different materials and designed in many ways depending on what you have to use and what you want to grow. One of the most common materials used are halved 500ml mineral water bottles punctured with many small holes of roughly 2-3 mm sizes. (ii) Reservoir This holds the nutrient solution that feeds the plants and can be made out of just about anything, from a paint bucket to a 120L trash can; maybe even a Styrofoam box. Whichever you use, however, it should just be clean from anything that might contaminate the nutrient solution. (iii) Submersible pump Used to water the plants. You can use one from a hydroponics store, or use a fountain pump found in the garden section of any home improvement store. Usually, you can get a cheap set from your local aquarium shop used for fish tanks.. (iv) Delivery system This is used to get the water/nutrients from the pump in the reservoir to the plants, and back to the reservoir again. Vinyl tubing or regular PVC pipe also found at any home improvement store work very nicely, and can easily be customized to your application. (v) Simple timer This is used to turn on and off the pump, as well as the lights (if you are using them). No special timer is needed here, unless you just want it to be able to turn on and off many times a day for the pump. (vi) Air pump and air stone Used to oxygenate the nutrient solution, these are the same kind used in fish tanks and are quite inexpensive. Oxygenating the nutrient solution is not absolutely necessary but highly recommended. This helps the root system to get the oxygen they need. In addition, because the water is continuously moving, it cuts way down on algae growth, and helps to keep the nutrients fresher. Do take note that some submersible pumps incorporate an air intake valve, thus removing the need to purchase additional air pumps and air stones. (vii) Lighting for the lighting

You can use many different lighting systems, from compact fluorescent lighting (CFL's) that you can get at any home improvement store to expensive lighting systems from the Hydroponics store. Or you can simply just use the free sunlight.

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Constructing a Simple Water Culture System Convert an aquarium into a simple hydroponic system. The plants are suspended on a floating Styrofoam platform. This system is popular for classrooms because the roots of the plants are visible hanging below the floating platform Materials (i) Plastic basin / Used storage box / Used aquarium Any water tight container with fairly vertical sides will work. However, as light breaks down the nutrient solution and encourages algae growth, if you us an aquarium you will need to construct a light shield out of cardboard or aluminum foil to keep light out of the reservoir (aquarium). If you wish to view the roots make the light shield (or part of it) removable. (ii) Floating platform You will need a piece of Styrofoam 1 1/2" to 2" thick. Cut Styrofoam to fit loosely inside the basin (or whatever you are using for a reservoir). If using a storage box, just cut holes in the lid. (iii) Halved mineral water bottles If cutting and trimming 500ml mineral water bottles seem time consuming, use several small plastic or Styrofoam cups to hold the plants on the floating platform. NOTE: You can use any small plastic cup as long as it has tapered sides. Growing medium You will need a small amount of growing medium, enough to fill the plastic cups. NOTE: It is recommended to use light-weight materials such as perlite or a perlite / vermiculite mix for the growing medium. Other materials such as expanded clay balls and Rockwool are also suitable.

(iv) Air pump and airstone You need to use an air pump and airstone to oxygenate the nutrient solution. A regular air pump designed for an aquarium is all that is required, and is usually quite cheap. (v) Hydroponic fertilizer A good quality hydroponic fertilizer is required. Regular manure-based fertilizers do not contain essential micro-nutrients for good plant growth. You can buy this from most garden stores. Or, you could crush up regular granule fertilizers instead. (vi) pH test kit You will need some way of checking and adjusting the pH of your nutrient solution. A regular aquarium shop would often have inexpensive pH testers available. Assembly of System 1. Cut the Styrofoam float to fit the plastic basin. Cut the float a little smaller than the opening so that it won't bind up when the water level changes. Cut the holes in the float to the proper size for the plastic cups that you are using. You want the bottoms of the cups to hang below the bottom of the float but not fall through. Cut several holes (approximately 2-3 mm) in the bottom of your plastic cups. Add growing medium to the cup. NOTE: if the growing medium falls out through the holes you can put a small piece of fiberglass window screen or small piece of cloth over the holes before adding the growing medium.

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Care and Feeding Instructions 1. Fill the plastic basin with water. Mix your nutrient solution as per the instructions on the fertilizer package. Check pH and adjust accordingly. Alternatively, you may use liquid plant food which is commonly available at most gardening shops. Attach airline to the airstone and place airstone in reservoir. Attach free end of tubing to air pump and plug in air pump to outlet, make sure that there are bubbles coming from the air stone. NOTE: NEVER submerge the air pump in water as electrical shock could occur. 3. Place floating platform on top of the nutrient solution. Put plastic cups into the holes in the floating platform. When the plants have used up about half of the nutrient solution you can add WATER ONLY to bring the level back up (do not add fertilizer or you could cause a nutrient build up that could harm the plants). Recheck pH and adjust if necessary. When the plants have used half of the nutrient solution for the second time you need to change out the nutrient solution by draining the reservoir and then mix a fresh batch. Use the old nutrient solution on house plants or other vegetation.

Some pictures of homemade water culture / floating raft hydroponic systems:

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A variation of the water culture / floating raft system replaces the use of hydroponic fertilizers with the keeping of live aquatic organisms, such as fish or shrimp. This form of system is known as aquaponics, and is a rapidly growing form of food production in urban areas. For our feature newsletter, aquaponics will be extensively discussed and showcased. In the next hydroponics. issue, we will cover vertical

Article by MJ Joel

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Upcoming Event Event Title

Malaysia Agriculture, Horticulture and Agrotourism International Show (MAHA) 2012 International Conference on Aquaculture Indonesia 2012 International Conference on Agricultural and Food Engineering 2012 Taste Fully Food & Beverage Expo

Date
23 Nov. 2 Dec. 2012 23-24 Nov. 2012 26-29 Nov. 2012 14-16 Dec. 2012

Venue
Malaysia Agro Exposition Park Serdang (MAEPS), Selangor, Malaysia

Website/E-mail

http://www.maha.gov.my/2012/

Semarang, Central Java, Indonesia

http://aquaculture-mai.org/en

UPM Serdang, Selangor, Malaysia

http://www.eng.upm.edu.my/cafei2012/

Putra World Trade Center, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

http://www.biztradeshows.com/tastefully-food-beverage-expo/

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Meet Our Team!

Johnny Lak
Businessman. Innovator. Activist. But not necessarily in that order. Keen entrepreneurial skills, and a great passion towards agriculture and knowledge. Operates farms in Pajam and Mantin.

Mr Farmer @ Raymond
Agriculture entrepreneur and passionate about living life with a sense of purpose, our friend owns a farm in Keningau over at the Land Beneath the Wind, Sabah.

KW Beh
Fertility, fertility, fertility. Thats what our UPM Grad constantly has on his mind while working for Twin Arrows Fertilizer. Want to improve crop production? Look him up for the solutions!

Senny Ong
Our resident Chinese Herbal Specialist with a passion for the bitter stuff. Enjoys helping people seek a healthier path in everyday life. Now say with her: Bitter herbs are our friends

MJ Joel
What do you get when you cross a potato with corn? Thats the sort of questions this bookworm and plant breeder seeks to answer. And its definitely not what you think it is, dirty fellow!

Contact Point: For more details about what we do, please refer to the Lowyat Forum Thread: Venturing into Agriculture& Aquaculture For further information or clarification please contact us at agrinaquanewsletter@gmail.com

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