The recent economic uncertainties have compelled society to work harder as they try to meet the expenses for their daily needs .

The Prime Minister has insinuated that the world’s economy is getting more uncertain and challenging.

The geopolitical conflicts happening in several countries are also contributing towards the global inflation and weaking the economic growth.

As a consequence, the increased prices of commodities and food items have affected the cost of living of Malaysians.

The situation is becoming worse when the world is currently discussing the issue of food crisis that is more and more apparent by the day.

World Food Programme (WFP) and FAO estimated that the current situation has caused an increase in food insecurity from 100 million people in 2021 to 161 million.

The combination of several contributing factors to the crisis has led to an increase in the price of raw items and disrupted the supply of food as well as reduced the purchasing power of Malaysians.

All parties must pool their resources together and find alternatives to prevent the situation from becoming worse in the future.

Among potential initiatives that can be taken that have a visible impact is knowledge transfer programmes.

Universiti Malaysia Terengganu (UMT) through its Institute of Tropical Aquaculture and Fisheries (AKUATROP), a Higher Institution Centre of Excellence (HICoE), has implemented several series of knowledge transfer programmes relating to its expertise and niche area, fisheries and aquaculture, to the communities to help improve their economic status.

AKUATROP Director Prof. Dr. Mhd Ikhwanuddin Abdullah said the project has been specially planned to help the target groups and to act as medium of dissemination of knowledge regarding the conservation of fisheries resources.

“This time, the knowledge transfer and university social responsibility (USR) programme concerning the conservation of mud crabs is an effort by the institute to boost the knowledge transfer activities to society and industry.

“The programme is about farming of mud crabs and the effort in mud crab conservation in Malaysia. It is also to create awareness of society towards efforts and activities needed to ensure the sustainability of mud crab species and other fisheries resources,” said Prof. Ikhwanuddin during the programme at Tanjung Sepat, Sepang, recently.  

According to Prof. Ikhwanuddin, the programme is hoped to change the local community’s perspective to practice sustainable fisheries resources management especially mud crabs.

Earlier, UMT Vice Chancellor Prof. Dato’ Dr. Mazlan Abd Ghaffar said several community-friendly initiatives will be implemented in an effort to upgrade the status of the target groups.

“UMT will also integrate the farming of giant freshwater prawns, fish, and vegetables using a system that is sustainable, user-friendly, and has a low cost but long expectancy to help the community improve the quality of life.”

He said the planned project will provide a big impact and a better return that will help change the local community’s economy.

First set up as a fisheries centre in 1979, UMT has undergone several evolutions and managed to make a name for itself at various levels in terms of academic achievements, research and innovation, and student development.

Among the achievements and recognitions the university has obtained are being ranked by Times Higher Education (World University Rankings), Times Higher Education (Impact Rankings), Times Higher Education (World University Rankings by Subject), QS World University Rankings, QS University Rankings (Asia), UI GreenMetric, MyMoheS, Malaysia Research Assessment (MyRA), and SETARA.

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Corporate Communications Offfice

Universiti Malaysia Terengganu