PEMELUK ISLAM PERTAMA, RANAU, SABAH

(Maklumat dari makalah lama)

THE CENDUL IN SEREMBAN

Building of Haji Shariff's Cendul, Seremban at the corner of Jalan Munis.

The beginnings

RICE DIVERSITY FOR SUSTAINABLE LIVING

The keepers of food crop diversity such as padi are the people who live in the rural and interior of Sarawak and  Sabah. The types of padi grown are handed through the generations that are proven adapted to the local geography and  traditional technology. The diversity e.g. beras gamut, bears miri, beras bukit leads to different uses in the diet.   

Pulut bukit, Beras kayan, Beras mamut - at RM10/kg is rather expensive but then production are not easy because they are largely organically grown. The vagaries of pests such as rodents and birds are difficult to control. Plus, inputs are costly to be brought in into the interior. 

Daily Iban produce market, Sarawak.

Land clearing by slash and burning ready to be planted with hill padi, Sarawak.

THE LAST JAPANESE, 30 YEARS HIDING

ORANG KAMPONG

IS POLYGYNY DEAD?

DRAGON FRUIT (PITTAYA)

Dragon fruit or pittaya as called in its original home in Central America is thus an introduced fruit in the East. Taiwan is amongst the first country to grow them.

There are 3 variants of flesh colour - white, red and yellow of which red is the preferred one grown commercially. It is sweeter than the other two types.

Earlier on pittaya is a popular fruit to venture into because being a cactus it is hardy to less fertile soil, do not require much water, no pest problem, and fast cash crop. 

However, after some rapid expansion in planting there appeared a virus disease affecting the plants. This is probably due to diseased materials brought into country for propagation and distribution for growing. Farmers become discouraged and hence plantings are less found nowadays.

Rooted cuttings are used for planting.