Day: May 27, 2024

KAMPAR, The pilot project of planting grain corn for the livestock industry in Perak is starting to show positive results, with an expected record yield of about 60 tonnes.

State Rural Development, Plantation, Agriculture and Food Industry Committee chairman Datuk Mohd Zolkafly Harun said the production was a result of developing an 11-hectare area, covering two districts, under the National Agro-Food Policy 2.0.

He said that the pilot project, of a nine-hectare area in Kampar and four hectares in Kuala Kangsar, commenced in February this year.

The Kampar farm, harvested today, is expected to yield 40.50 tonnes while the Kuala Kangsar cultivation, which will be harvested soon, can produce 18 tonnes.

‘The project, in collaboration with the state Department of Agriculture, which is carried out by Syarikat Ikatan Masz in Kampung Redang Sawa, near Kampar, is the first and largest project in the state to help cover the need for grain corn in the formulation of animal feed (for local breeders).

‘Growers start
ed planting in February, using the GWNG 5005 variety, and received assistance from the state agriculture department under the provisions of the Food Security Project: Strengthening the Development of Grain Corn (Maize) Industry,’ he said, after visiting the grain corn planting project in Kampung Redang Sawa, here, today.

Also present were state Agriculture Department director Norsiyenti Othman and Ikatan Masz general manager Mohd Zaini Abdul Ghani.

According to Mohd Zolkafly, the state government is confident that the cultivation of grain corn can help the country reduce its dependence on imported corn as one of the main ingredients in the preparation of animal feed.

‘Now we want to focus on the production of grain corn in the state through the cooperation of various agencies, so that we can expand the crop to all districts after the success of onion cultivation at Kampung Ladang Bikam in Sungkai.

‘This corn will then be sold in the local market to reduce dependence on imported animal feed, as well as to
stabilise the market to achieve the Food Security agenda outlined in the Prosperous Perak Plan 2030,’ he said.

Meanwhile, Mohd Zaini said that he previously cultivated sweet potato and sweet corn in 2010, before being urged by the state Agriculture Department to plant grain corn this year.

‘The state Department of Agriculture offers harvesting machinery services, including a drying machine at Titi Gantung, which can process five tonnes of harvest per day.

‘This just-harvested grain corn (with high moisture content) needs to go through a drying process within 24 hours after harvest to reach a moisture level of around 13 to 14 per cent before being marketed to local farmers according to the current market price,’ he said.

He said that grain corn crops are not complicated, but take up to 110 to 120 days to harvest, compared with sweet corn which takes around 70 days.

Source: BERNAMA News Agency

SEOUL, North Korea launched an unidentified projectile on Monday, South Korea’s military said, after the country announced a satellite launch plan.

The North launched the projectile in a southward direction over the Yellow Sea, South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said in a message to reporters without providing further details, including where it was launched from.

Pyongyang had earlier notified Japan that it will launch a satellite sometime before June 4 and designated three areas, where rocket debris will fall, as a precaution for safety. The liftoff came on the first day of the eight-day launch window.

The launch also came after President Yoon Suk Yeol, Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and Chinese Premier Li Qiang held a trilateral summit in Seoul on Monday and reaffirmed their commitment to promote peace on the Korean Peninsula.

During the summit, Yoon and Kishida also urged the North to call off the launch plan.

If confirmed, it would mark the North’s second satellite launch after the country
successfully put its first military spy satellite into orbit in November last year after two unsuccessful attempts in May and August, respectively.

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has vowed to send three more spy satellites into orbit in 2024.

The North’s space rocket launches have drawn condemnation from Seoul, Washington and others, as they violate U.N. Security Council resolutions that ban the country from launches using ballistic missile technology.

Source: Yonhap News Agency

SEOUL, North Korea launched an unidentified projectile on Monday, South Korea’s military said, after the country announced a satellite launch plan.

The North launched the projectile in a southward direction over the Yellow Sea, South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said in a message to reporters without providing further details, including where it was launched from.

Pyongyang had earlier notified Japan that it will launch a satellite sometime before June 4 and designated three areas, where rocket debris will fall, as a precaution for safety. The liftoff came on the first day of the eight-day launch window.

The launch also came after President Yoon Suk Yeol, Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and Chinese Premier Li Qiang held a trilateral summit in Seoul on Monday and reaffirmed their commitment to promote peace on the Korean Peninsula.

During the summit, Yoon and Kishida also urged the North to call off the launch plan.

If confirmed, it would mark the North’s second satellite launch after the country
successfully put its first military spy satellite into orbit in November last year after two unsuccessful attempts in May and August, respectively.

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has vowed to send three more spy satellites into orbit in 2024.

The North’s space rocket launches have drawn condemnation from Seoul, Washington and others, as they violate U.N. Security Council resolutions that ban the country from launches using ballistic missile technology.

Source: Yonhap News Agency

GEORGE TOWN, Penang State Legislative Assembly Opposition Leader Muhammad Fauzi Yusof has proposed that a Special Committee be set up under the state Public Accounts Committee (PAC) to discuss internal issues on Islamic religious affairs in the state.

He said the setting up of the Special Committee was crucial considering the sensitivities in addressing issues related to Malay and Islamic affairs.

“The mechanism for appointing this special committee is through the PAC Standing Committee meeting.

“The appointment of members of this Special Committee should be proposed and approved by the permanent members of the PAC committee,’ he said when winding up the debate on the motion of thanks to the Yang Dipertua Negeri of Penang Tun Ahmad Fuzi Abdul Razak’s speech in the state assembly sitting today.

According to Muhammad Fauzi, the main function of the Special Committee will be to audit institutions related to Muslims, such as the Penang State Islamic Religious Council, the institutions of Zakat, Baitul Mal an
d mosques.

Muhammad Fauzi (PN-Sungai Dua) said that practically, internal issues related to the affairs of Muslims should be discussed and dealt with by Muslims themselves.

Source: BERNAMA News Agency

WASHINGTON, South Korea, the United States and Japan will hold a trilateral vice foreign ministerial meeting in Virginia this week to discuss North Korean threats, cooperation on economic security and critical technologies and other issues, the State Department said Monday.

South Korean Vice Foreign Minister Kim Hong-kyun, Deputy Secretary of State Kurt Campbell and Japanese Vice Foreign Minister Masataka Okano are set to attend the trilateral dialogue in historic Little Washington, Virginia, on Friday, according to it.

The meeting comes as Seoul, Washington and Tokyo share concerns over Pyongyang’s plan to launch another satellite-carrying rocket before June 4. They see the planned launch as a violation of U.N. Security Council resolutions.

“This dialogue … will reaffirm the importance of trilateral cooperation in advancing a free and open, connected, prosperous, secure, and resilient Indo-Pacific region,” the department said in a media note.

“This dialogue will focus on utilizing our collective capac
ity to strengthen cooperation on economic security, critical and emerging technologies, and maritime security, as well as a range of regional and global challenges, including the threats posed by the DPRK to regional and global peace and security,” it added.

DPRK stands for the North’s official name, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.

The three sides are also set to discuss Russia’s prolonged war against Ukraine, the “importance of maintaining peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait,” and humanitarian support for the people of Gaza, according to the department.

The department called the upcoming meeting a “key deliverable” from the landmark trilateral summit that South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol, U.S. President Joe Biden and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida held at Camp David in Maryland in August.

On Friday morning, Campbell plans to meet bilaterally with Kim to discuss the role of the South Korea-U.S. alliance in promoting peace, stability and prosperity in the Indo-Pacific region and
beyond.

On the eve of the trilateral meeting, he and Okano are set to attend the inaugural meeting of the vice-ministerial U.S.-Japan Strategic Diplomacy and Development Dialogue, the department said.

The upcoming meetings follow the trilateral summit that Yoon, Chinese Premier Li Qiang and Kishida held in Seoul on Monday.

Source: Yonhap News Agency