KUCHING: World Wide Fund for Nature Malaysia (WWF-Malaysia) and Malaysian Pepper Board (MPB) have inked a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) towards sustainability.
The signed collaboration agreement will pave the way for better co-management of natural resources and pepper farm lands with local communities, particularly those in Song, Sarawak.
Under this MoU, MPB’s technical expertise on pepper farming (both regular and organic) is drawn upon, and hence the community partners of the project will benefit from capacity building on technical aspects of pepper planting.
The target communities are Rumah Dagum and Rumah Peter, Ulu Katibas in Song, Sarawak. MPB will also extend support to provide pepper-grading and sorting machineries where feasible.
The collaboration also paves the way for both organisations to explore international certification or good agriculture practices schemes for pepper, and help market pepper from local communities.
WWF-Malaysia executive director cum chief executive officer (CEO) Sophia Lim said this project is impovrtant in that it seeks to demonstrate a few key points that aligns with WWF’s vision and mission to conserve nature for people and the planet.
“Firstly, it facilitates and strengthens the communities’ livelihood option. At the same time, it strives to minimise adverse impact to the environment through good management practices, pesticide-free options and looks at long-term feasibility towards organically grown pepper,” she said in a statement yesterday.
“Pepper farming is Sarawak’s heritage. Sarawak pepper remains in the top 10 best pepper in the world. It is farmed by true-blue Sarawakians in their family farms, nestled amidst forest with functioning ecosystems.
“This is a scenario of people, planet and profit that is perfectly encapsulated by the end goal of this project,” she added.
Rumah Dagum and Rumah Peter communities were carefully selected by WWF-Malaysia for the sustainable pepper project after an assessment of 92 villages in Song-Katibas region.
This project is one of WWF-Malaysia’s initiatives advocating for a green economy that promotes environmentally-friendly resource use and production.
The largest pepper producing village in the area, Rumah Dagum is home to long-time farmers but lacks direct access to the market. WWF-Malaysia tailors their approach to the unique needs of Rumah Dagum, building capacity in pepper processing, storage, and marketing.
Rumah Peter has a younger workforce with room to grow. The project harnesses that potential by helping 15 farmers to kick-start their farms.
It also facilitates knowledge sharing around organic practices in collaboration with the Department of Agriculture and the MPB. The village aims to become the first certified organic pepper farming community in Malaysia.
The three-year MoU which takes effect on July 28, 2022, will also promote, strengthen and develop collaborative efforts between both organisations in the research and development of pepper farming by local communities in Sarawak.
WWF-Malaysia has been working with these two communities since 2018. This year, the project received much needed funding support from the Ministry of Finance. WWF-Malaysia will liaise, collaborate and plan activities on the ground with MPB, as well as monitor the progress of the project.
The MoU signing ceremony took place during the Malaysia International Agricommodity Expo and Summit held at the Malaysian International Trade and Exhibition Centre, Kuala Lumpur recently.
