Student Agriculture Projects in Malaysian Secondary Schools: Day 3

After acclimating to Malaysian culture (in a short 3 days), our group had the chance to visit a small secondary school (500 students) that offers "Living Skills" classes (the equivalent of our Agriculture classes). At the SMK Telok Kerang school, we were fortunate to learn about the progressive vision, mission, and objectives of their Form 4 (16-year-old) and Form 5 (17-year-old) agriculture classes. Additionally we toured 3 student projects (the equivalent of a school-based Supervised Agriculture Experience) at the school.

 The first student project was fertigation, or the injection of fertilizers, soil amendments, and water-soluble products directly into the irrigation system of a greenhouse. This student demonstrated adding the A fertilizer (macronutrients) and B fertilizer (micronutrients) to the reservoirs, then testing the electrical conductivity to ensure it was correct. He then explained that the irrigation was set to run at certain times to provide the mixed fertilizer to the plants in the nearby greenhouse. The major crop grown in this greenhouse was eggplants, and they were beautiful to admire!

The second student project was quail production! In the United States, it is fairly common for Agriculture programs to raise chickens, then collect eggs and/or butcher the chickens for use in a Food Science class. I was surprised to find that quail was the bird of choice since it produces such small eggs. Each student is given a pen of 5 birds to manage and monitor as part of their Livestock Production class. The student group for this project provided a beautiful tri-fold pamphlet in English (which is their second language)! The US Agriculture Teachers commented that the technical terms used in the pamphlet were more advanced than our students could articuluate in English! We were impressed at the level of knowledge and confidence the students exhibited while introducing us to their projects. I noticed that one of the "future goals" for the quail production project was to use Effective Microorganisms (EM) in the feed and/or drinking water to reduce the odor of the manure! Immediately impressed, I asked the teacher what products they planned to feed the animals to accomplish this goal. He said spinach and molasses were the products they wanted to try! Since odor is a major concern of producing livestock in the United States, I quickly explained to the teacher that this idea was novel, important, and very advanced and his program should be applauded for investigating this idea.

The final student project was Lemongrass. This plant is used in cooking to provide a desirable aroma and is also used to make a tasty drink called Serai. However, before we could get the chance to taste this drink, we had to learn how to process the lemongrass properly to prepare the beverage. The Malaysian students gave us a demonstration on how to remove a section of the lemongrass, cut away the roots, and slice the top portions off the stem. Thanks to our Malaysian counterparts, we were proficient in no time at all!

At the conclusion of the lemongrass presentation, we were able to talk with some of the secondary students and laughter, selfies, and countless pictures quickly ensued. We were told by our UTM counterparts that when visitors, especially foreign visitors, come to the school, it is a major event that every student wants to be a part of. They asked curious questions and admired our clothing, hair, and how we tried to speak Malay with them. This reaction would not happen in a school in the United States, so it was quite refreshing to be reminded again of the Malaysian hospitality and friendship we immediately experienced upon our arrival.

See that crazy fruit on the table? It is called Durian and is known as the "King of Fruits" in Malaysia. Our hosts have been talking about this fruit since our arrival and have wanted us to try it. We quickly figured out why this fruit has been a huge deal--it has a strong odor, but supposedly "tastes really good." With the motto, "I'll try anything once," Thomas and I put a smile on our face and tried the putty-like flesh of the durian and struggled to keep a smile on our faces because of the odor. The taste does not match the smell, but it reminded us of an onion mixed with dull pineapple. The students asked us if we liked it and I replied, "I would eat it only mixed with something else, like coconut." So, if you ever spot a durian in an Asian food store, give it a shot! The outside is square spikes and about the size of a small basketball.

Up next: Touring a pineapple research farm and learning about what we are teaching to a group of Malaysian students!