p02 cover story @Forest | July-august, 2020
Scientific, scalable
& sustainable
farming the trend
Gain Green will continue its foray into scientific and high-tech
agriculture as it is the future trend
BY KHIRTINI K KUMARAN
EL Law
Unique research: Advanced
tissue culture techniques are
used to propogate and cultivate
Revotropix Paulownia clones
Green Afforestation International
Network Sdn Bhd (Gain Green) will continue
being steadfast into scientific and scalable
farming while at the same time promoting
sustainability.
“Scientific, scalable and sustainability is the
future farming trend,” said Gain Green Ceo
EL Law on the “three S” of farming.
Gain Green embraces the scientific and high-tech
agriculture method in its management of the Revotropix
Paulownia plantation, from the production of seedling till
harvesting.
“There are the different target groups of people we are
interested in collaborating with,” he shared adding the
plantations projects were scalable and able to fit differentsized
collaborators from the big players right down to the
small landowners in villages (see sidebar).
Among its scientific approaches are intensive Research
and Development into advance tissue culture techniques
and cultivation of distinctive Paulownia clones.
“We were able to cultivate a superior quality species,
which is disease-free and which ensures uniform growth
and size of Paulownia plants,” he said, adding the scientific
plantation approach included soil analysis, nutrient
formulation and the irrigation system.
Gain Green strives for efficient and cost-effective
management for its Paulownia plantation business. As
such, it applies systemic management whereby plants are
identified via serial number, and the location of each plant
can be tracked via GPS coordinates. Drones are also used
to monitor the plantations.
“Our plantation management is pretty easy and is not
labour-intensive,” Law explained.
Gain Green–UPM Initiative
According to Law, through a collaboration with
Universiti Putra Malaysia (UPM), Gain Green will invest
in the creation of a research centre with the Faculty of
Forestry in UPM.
“Under this Centre of New Tropical Wood Research and
Development, we will allocate RM250,000 for the five-year
programme in UPM to research the new tropical species,
Aerial view: Law observing a drone used in the
management and monitoring of the plantations
called multispecies, which could be planted together with
Revotropix Paulownia.
“We don’t want to create a monospecies culture in our
plantation, so we also looking at several other new species
that can be planted together with Revotropix Paulownia,
that could fit the needs of the industry. For example, to
find another source of timber wood which complements
Revotropix Paulownia’s features.”
This new centre will also fund the research by students
and wood scientists in the country who would like to study
several aspects of the wood. The research will include a
variety of areas such as wood features, disease, management,
engineering quality improvement methods and so
on.
Sustainability
In Malaysia, there is a high demand for wood products,
but unfortunately, it also leads to massive deforestation of
our native forest.
However, Gain Green aims to provide the industry with
a sustainable supply of alternative wood which is also
eco-friendly. And it can do so with the Paulownia tree,
which is uniquely suited to today’s needs as it provides a
low-cost, environmentally-friendly and sustainable source
Gain Green
welcomes
industry
partners
Green Afforestation International
Network Sdn Bhd (Gain Green) is actively
looking for partners, including those in
the industry for its Revotropix Paulownia
plantations, said its CEO EL Law.
Gain Green’s plantation projects
are a trilateral collaboration between
landowners, who contribute their land;
farming entrepreneurs who provide
workforce and capital; and Gain Green.
Law explained: “Gain Green will supply
seedling, technical help, management of
the farm, running quality assurance and
quality control on the farms as well as the
application of the wood.”
As the plantation projects are scalable,
Gain Green caters to partners of all sizes.
“There are the different target groups of
people we are interested in collaborating
with,” he shared, adding the plantations
projects were scalable and able to fit
different-sized collaborators from the big
players right down to the small landowners
in villages.
The big players can be institutional
players such as developers who can’t build
houses at the moment, thus leaving the
land idle. They can also be big landowners
such as State agencies with multiple
landbanks as well as those who are
looking to diversify their plantation crop.
Next, come the medium-sized players,
that is those who own a medium-sized
plantation of about 20-30 acres and are
looking to diversify their crop with easier
plantation management.
“Our plantation is pretty easy to manage
and does not require heavy labour.”
Lastly, come the small landowners in
villages. They may own little pieces of land
or orchards which may be sitting idle.
To reach out to these potential players,
especially the small landowners, Gain
Green launched the Project Malaysia
Menanam.
“We launched this project mainly to
gather and consolidate the small little
pockets of lands that we think may add
value and improve the income of the
villagers.”
According to Law, the Paulownia trees
are planted 12 feet apart, thus leaving
empty spaces between the trees which
can be used for intercrop farming for