RM1.75 MILLION ALLOCATED FOR UUM MUSSELS PROJECT

UUM ONLINE: Kuala Muda - Universiti Utara Malaysia (UUM) has received a substantial allocation of RM1.75 million from the Unit Peneraju Agenda Bumiputera (TERAJU) for the ‘Muscling the Mussels Farming Community’ project in Kuala Muda.

The Mussels project initiative, conducted under the Bumiputera Entrepreneur Development Fund (DPUB), commenced in January 2021 and is slated to continue until January 2026.

According to project leader, Assoc. Prof.  Dr. Faizatul Akmar Abdul Nifa, the project is a collaborative effort with Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM), with the initial phase involving 15 Bumiputera youth participants from the B40 group and 17 researchers from UUM.

The 'Muscling the Mussels Farming Community' project is currently underway at Pantai Teluk Bayu, Pantai Merdeka, and Pengkalan Tiram, Sungai Dedap. Each site hosts seven to eight participants.

According to her, the impact of the project encompasses income improvement, economic growth in rural communities, food safety enhancement, job creation, and entrepreneurship promotion.

"Starting with the programme initiated at Pantai Teluk Bayu, we have set up mussel farming cages, processing facilities, boat fabrication, and distributed 400 mussel seedlings. This construction was completed last July.

“The construction of infrastructure for the second location in Pengkalan Tiram, Sungai Dedap, will commence after receiving the second tranche of funding from TERAJU."

The 'Muscling the Mussels Farming Community' project is divided into five project initiatives (IP) overseen by research teams responsible for implementing their respective tasks.

IP 1 is responsible for engaging the Bumiputera community in the aquaculture sector; IP 2 focuses on basic infrastructure development, floating mussel farming rafts, and mussel farming systems; IP 3 involves the Internet of Things (IoT) for controlling mussel farming environments; IP 4 covers the cold chain logistics for mussel farming products and IP 5 plays a role in branding and marketing mussels farming products.

Numerous activities have already been conducted, such as Entrepreneurship Training for Mussel Farming (Branding and Marketing), and Community Project Management in collaboration with the Institute Halal Malaysia (IHM), UUM, and the Kedah State Majlis Amanah Rakyat (MARA) to provide guidance and information on halal practices for entrepreneurs.

Additionally, the first session of Mussel Farming Training took place at the Teluk Bayu processing facility, where the construction of processing facilities, cages, and boat fabrication were monitored. A 'Knowledge Transfer Programme: Development of Chilled and Frozen Mussel Products' was also conducted.