- 3 hours ago
Malaysia already spends over RM70 billion a year importing food, while climate pressures continue to affect local crop yields.
Tehmina Kaoosji speaks with Amirul Merican, Co-Founder and COO of Qarbotech, about how Malaysian-grown technology is being used to improve photosynthesis, raise farm productivity, and build higher-value capability to overcome the challenges of limited, suitable agricultural land & high production costs.
Niaga Spotlight looks at how technology, talent, and long-term capital are strengthening food security and creating more resilient jobs in Malaysia’s Agritech sector.
Tehmina Kaoosji speaks with Amirul Merican, Co-Founder and COO of Qarbotech, about how Malaysian-grown technology is being used to improve photosynthesis, raise farm productivity, and build higher-value capability to overcome the challenges of limited, suitable agricultural land & high production costs.
Niaga Spotlight looks at how technology, talent, and long-term capital are strengthening food security and creating more resilient jobs in Malaysia’s Agritech sector.
Category
🗞
NewsTranscript
00:07Hello and welcome to Nyaga Spotlight with me Tamina Kaosji. Nyaga Spotlight takes us through
00:11the week in economic analysis and future affairs. Now today on future affairs our spotlight falls
00:17on tech, productivity and food security. So Malaysia's push to raise the ceiling under
00:24economy madani is increasingly coming down to one factor alone, productivity. At Forum Economy
00:31Malaysia the FEM last week a few realities were emphasised. A food import bill of over 70 billion
00:38ringgit a year, climate volatility cutting into domestic yields and an economy still too concentrated
00:44downstream. The challenge now is whether Malaysian companies can move upstream by applying technology,
00:52owning intellectual property IP and also turning innovation into real economic resilience.
00:58One company already doing that on the ground is Carbotech, a Malaysian nanotechnology firm
01:04developing crop solutions that improve photosynthesis, plant efficiency and this is also
01:11at a crucial time when climate stress can reduce agricultural yields nationwide by up to 20%.
01:18backed by Kazana's Dana Impact, its work is beginning to show how productivity gains have
01:24the potential to become a strategic advantage. Joining us on Nyaga Spotlight live in the studios
01:30now is Amirul Merican, co-founder and chief operating officer of Carbotech to dig deeper.
01:36A very good morning Amirul, how are you doing?
01:38Thank you so much, thank you so much for having me here, it's really an honour.
01:41Absolutely, such a pleasure and a delight to have you on to discuss a little bit more
01:45about the good work Carbotech is doing. So Amirul, let's get started by talking about
01:49the fact that Malaysia, even though we have such strong agricultural fundamentals, and I'm
01:56sure you could tell us more about that, having travelled the breadth of the country for your
02:00work, but we are still a net food importer. So tell us about how actually the idea behind
02:08everything which Carbotech does came around, and the interventions that are available now to ensure
02:16that we don't continue remaining a net food importer.
02:20Yeah, that is a very important question, Tamina. So in Malaysia, whenever we go down on the ground,
02:26when we speak to these farmers, the farmers will say the same thing again and again.
02:30Every year, their yield will decline. And for them, most of them, what they do is they would
02:36put more chemical fertilisers onto the land. And this then would make the land more infertile,
02:43and then the cycle repeats, the land becomes infertile, and the yield will become less and
02:48less over time. So some of them even would leave the agricultural industry, because it is
02:54inconsistent yield, inconsistent income for them, and they would not continue to do that. And that is
03:01why young generations, they don't have the tendency to go into the industry. So at Carbotech, as
03:08mentioned, what we have is a photosynthesis enhancing technology. Right. So Dr. Suraya, our chief
03:15scientist and founder, patented a technology to derive this carbon quantum dots. So carbon quantum dots
03:23is essentially a small fragments of carbon. Okay. It is derived from agricultural waste, all the
03:30things that you throw out, like empty fruit bunch, rice husk, whatever that you get out. All the
03:35discards. All the discards. We then turn that into small fragments of carbon. And when this is at a very
03:42small scale, it possesses a photoluminescence property. It is able to convert ultraviolet into blue light
03:49spectrum. Maybe I'll show you how it looks like. Yes, please. So this is basically something that you
03:55would take out on the ground when you are meeting potential partners, such as farmers and smallholders.
04:02Just to get them an understanding of how it looks like. All right. So run us through it.
04:06The carbon does it. It converts the ultraviolet, which is abundant by the sun, and convert it into blue light
04:13spectrum. And the plants can then utilize and use. So this is ultraviolet touch light. And this is water.
04:20It will just go through. Okay. With our technology, it converts it into blue light spectrum. Ah, there you go.
04:27You see the photoluminescence in the second sample. Blue light spectrum. And what is the importance of this?
04:33Yes. So with too much UV, it will cause heat stress to the farm, to the plants. Right. That's when
04:40they
04:40basically sort of burn, wilt. Yes. So just like as our skin, we put UV protection so that we don't
04:48get skin
04:48condition, skin damage. Sure. So with plants, we apply it onto the leaves. The abundance ultraviolet,
04:55the unutilized ultraviolet is then being converted into blue light. So it's an extra energy source for the
05:01plant to carry out the process photosynthesis. And photosynthesis is very important. Photosynthesis is
05:07how the plants make their food. It's how they convert carbon dioxide, water, turn it into oxygen that
05:13we breathe, and carbohydrates for them to grow. So when they grow faster, quicker, more resilient,
05:19that then equals to more stable harvest for the farmers. And for us Malaysians, more food on the table.
05:25And that is why our work helps this farmer get more food.
05:31Absolutely. So coming from the work which Carbotech has been doing, Dan Amirul, let's move into discussing
05:38a little more about the next step. So this basically also means farming can be repositioned as more of a
05:46high-value, innovation-led industry in Malaysia. Which sectors within agriculture, in particular,
05:53have you seen being the most stressed, especially by climate-related changes in the past few years?
06:00So we just concluded our 2000 paddy project in Penang.
06:052,000. Okay.
06:062,000 hectares paddy project in Penang.
06:08Amazing.
06:09So this paddy, again, as mentioned earlier, farmers will complain that their yield will keep on declining.
06:15Year on year.
06:16Year on year, their per hectare would reduce from four tons to three tons per hectare, reducing to two tons
06:22even.
06:23So this is because of many factors. One of it is climate. Back then, the farmers were able to predict
06:30like, sunny season would be this time of the year. Rainy season would be this time of the year.
06:35So they then would be able to curate whatever they plan on whatever weather they think would be for that
06:42particular season.
06:44Fair enough. Life was pretty predictable for the farming seasons.
06:47Yeah. So the importance of our work, we then bring data for this farmer. We move away from guesswork.
06:53We move away from farmers guessing, maybe for this time, we do this, we do that.
06:59We put this agricultural input. So our technology are able to withstand both the cloudy season as well as the
07:09sunny season.
07:09So during cloudy weather, raining season, there are still UV present around the environment.
07:17This UV would be converted into the blue light for the plants to still carry out the process photosynthesis.
07:24When they still continue to do that, they still continue to grow. And then they are able to then get
07:29consistent results.
07:30Similarly, during the sunny or drought season, where the direct sunlight is too much, this then would cause heat stress.
07:39The heat wave that you see across different states would make the plant not grow, shy away from growing.
07:47But this UV, we convert into a lower energy, which is blue light, or the plants then are able to
07:54still continue growing without too much exposure to UV.
07:58So that is what the technology is doing. So we are moving away from all the guessing from the farmers
08:04to more science driven, more experimental, more collection of data.
08:10So just like the 2,000 hectares project that we did in Penang, we work with drone operators.
08:16So the drones are able to then spray across our product into the battlefield, and we know exactly the volume
08:24used.
08:24We do drone mapping, satellite imaging to capture the multispectral images.
08:30So what does multispectral images do? It is able to then tell you what happens between the control and treated
08:37plot.
08:38How much more photosynthesis is happening.
08:40We then have a team of agronomies go down on the ground to collect more data.
08:45When we collect all this data, when we measure photosynthesis, we are able to then predict better what would happen
08:53if a certain condition happened.
08:55So we move away from guesswork to more evidence based, science driven, and then that then equals to farmers getting
09:03more consistent, higher yield for us all basically.
09:07Because from the farm level, that is where they are producing the food that we all consume.
09:13If not, the whole supply would be much less, and food prices would soar up higher.
09:20Yes, higher than they already are.
09:22And specifically what you spoke about, the 2,000 hectare paddy project, Amirul, it really stands out to me because
09:29our rice bowl state, Kedah for example,
09:31currently also suffering from an ongoing heat wave. And also in recent years, paddy yields were 40% lower than
09:41average, which also causes so many downstream impacts on the farmers themselves.
09:47So besides paddy, which other high value crops does Carbotech also work with or have an interest in expanding towards?
09:57So we start with paddy because we had a 500 hectare project in Indonesia. So with that data, we then
10:05went to Malaysia and say,
10:06hey, let's try on paddy since we already have this data. So with other crops, fruiting vegetable, chili, brinjal, cucumber,
10:15we are all doing that with a lot of small food farmers across Malaysia. Fruits like melons, durian even, we
10:22are spraying our photosynthesis on them.
10:25We are now moving towards the palm oil industry. But with palm oil industry, they are not applying it on
10:33to the leaf. They are not deploying drone. So we need to then have additional operational costs for them.
10:41So maybe for palm oil industry, we then target the nursery phase first, or we do experiments of insolven adoption
10:50of our technology.
10:51Ah, very interesting. So there's an opportunity also to scale it around a different vertical.
10:57Yes.
10:58Fascinating. So overall, what kind of resilience are you seeing build across the food system, especially when it comes to
11:07the farmers and the smallholders who have already been working with you for a while, Amirul?
11:12Yeah. So just to then go back on to the 2,000 hectares paddy project, what does this mean to
11:18the farmers? They were able to see 15 to 30% increase in the yield.
11:23So that is an increase from 3 tons to 4 tons per hectare. So an additional 1 ton per hectare.
11:31When that then happens, more income for the farmers, more food for us, and that then trickles up to us
11:38having more secure food production in Malaysia.
11:41So similarly, with crops like melons, what we are seeing, more grade A fruits are being produced with more photosynthesis,
11:51enhanced photosynthesis. And interestingly, what we are also seeing for melons or even pineapples, they want to have sweeter fruits.
11:59So with more photosynthesis, as how we have already known, more carbohydrates are in the plants. So when there are
12:05more carbohydrates, the fruit itself become sweeter.
12:09So then that gives them a level up higher to grade A. For these farmers, it means they are able
12:15to sell at a higher price.
12:16Exactly.
12:17More income for them. And that more stable. And we keep these farmers in the agricultural space. Instead of them
12:24saying, hey, I can't predict what is going to happen to what I am planting, I want to leave the
12:29space.
12:29So now with new technology and ability for them to predict what is going to happen, what kind of income
12:35they should be expecting to get after harvesting, they then would be more interested to stay in the agricultural landscape.
12:42Exactly. So more interested to stay in the agricultural landscape. And I must ask you this before we go for
12:49a short break.
12:51How do farmers find you? Or are you the one identifying as Carbotech? Which future agricultural partners you want to
12:58work with?
12:59It's a different way and how we approach these farmers. Back then, we used to do it organically. We go
13:05down on the ground. We have a team of agronomies to meet this farmer and then introduce our technology.
13:10It's a lot of awareness because it's a new category on its own. We are not selling fertilizer. We are
13:16not crop management.
13:17None of the usual solutions. None of the usual. We are looking at the leaves. We are making the leaf
13:22work better. A lot of the other players are looking at enhancing the soil, making the nutrient better or healing
13:29the pest.
13:30But we are making the plant become more efficient. So we need to then go down on the ground, meet
13:36these farmers. But now as well, we are using social media such as TikTok to get these farmers to see
13:44what we have.
13:45And having Astro Awani publicizing what we do, advertising what we do, even showcasing what we have, more farmers will
13:54be more aware of the technology that is available here in Malaysia for them to use.
13:59Amirul, thank you so much for the conversation today. And of course, all the best to Carbotech moving forward for
14:032026.
14:04Well, that's an example of what moving upstream does look like, applying science to real world problems, creating higher value
14:11income and also building resilience into the economy.
14:15My thanks to Amirul Marikin, co-founder and chief operations officer Carbotech for joining us.
14:20That's all we have time for today. Join us next week for more economic analysis and insights.
14:25I'm Tamina Kausji signing off for now.
14:28All right.
14:28All right.
14:29All right.
14:29All right.
14:30All right.
14:30All right.
14:33All right.
14:34All right.
14:35All right.
Comments