DUA petani, Siriporn dan Amnat Taidee sebelum ini membakar sawah mereka di antara musim penanaman, kaedah lazim membersihkan sisa tanaman yang sering kali mencetus jerebu toksik di sebahagian besar Thailand.

Kaedah itu cepat dan murah untuk menyediakan kitaran penanaman baharu dan sejak sekian lama dianggap satu-satunya pilihan praktikal bagi jutaan pesawah di negara itu.

Namun kini, pasangan dari Chiang Rai itu sudah meninggalkan cara lama dan beralih kepada penyelesaian mikrob yang membawa manfaat lebih besar.

Dengan bantuan bakteria yang memakan sisa tanaman selepas tuaian, tanah mereka kini menjadi lebih subur, hasil meningkat malah kos baja juga semakin berkurangan.

“Kehidupan saya berubah. Saya sangat gembira. Kami kini tidak perlu membakar lagi,” kata Siriporn, 63, ketika berjalan di sawah menghijau di Chiang Rai.

Setiap tahun antara Januari hingga April, asap daripada sisa tanaman, kebakaran hutan dan pelepasan industri ditambah jerebu dari negara jiran menolak kualiti udara Thailand ke tahap berbahaya.

Permintaan terhadap formulasi baharu untuk menguraikan jerami meningkat mendadak sejak kerajaan menguatkuasakan tindakan tegas terhadap pembakaran terbuka beberapa tahun lalu.

Keluarga Taidee merupakan antara yang terawal beralih kepada produk dikenali sebagai Soil Digest yang dibangunkan saintis Thailand menggunakan lima strain bakteria Bacillus, salah satunya berasal daripada kacang soya yang ditapai secara tradisional.

Siriporn berkata, larutan itu menguraikan sisa jerami yang teruk dalam masa beberapa hari dan membantu memulihkan tanah.

“Padi tumbuh dengan baik dan tanah semakin subur. Teknologi mikrob ini benar-benar mengubah keadaan,” jelasnya.

Setakat ini, kira-kira 2,000 daripada 100,000 pesawah di Chiang Rai, antara wilayah utama penanaman padi Thailand mula beralih kepada teknologi mikrob itu.

Di Pathum Thani, wilayah penanaman padi di tengah Thailand, petani Samart Atthong membelanjakan 1,200 baht (RM145) untuk mengupah dron pertanian menyembur Soil Digest di sawahnya.

“Orang mungkin hanya nampak kos tambahan awal daripada penggunaan mikrob, tetapi mereka perlu melihat dalam jangka panjang. Apabila tanah pulih, kita tidak perlu lagi membeli banyak baja. Di tempat saya, pembakaran hampir sifar,” katanya.

Melangkah dalam udara dipenuhi debu yis, Saintis Thailand, Wichien Yongmanitchai memantau rapi mesin menghasilkan campuran mikrob ciptaannya.

Beliau memulakan dengan mengasingkan strain bakteria tempatan, yakin bakteria asli lebih sesuai dengan persekitaran tropika Thailand. Beliau juga berharap ciptaannya itu dapat menye­lesaikan krisis jerebu tahunan Thailand.

Tanpa rawatan mikrob, jerami padi mengambil masa sekitar 30 hari untuk cukup lembut bagi dibajak tetapi larutannya hanya mengambil lima hingga tujuh hari. Ujian awal menunjukkan peningkatan hasil sehingga 20 peratus.
Wichien juga berkata, bakteria itu mampu mengurangkan pelepasan metana dari sawah sekurang-kurangnya 20 peratus, membantu Thailand memenuhi komitmen iklimnya.

“Ini antara manfaat terbesar untuk mencapai neutral karbon di sawah padi,” katanya.

Namun beliau sedar operasi kecilnya tidak mampu mencapai 20 juta petani di Thailand sendirian. Tanpa sokongan kerajaan dan korporat, jurang itu mungkin sukar diatasi.

Pakar bebas bersetuju teknologi ini berpotensi tetapi memberi amaran sistem sokongan perlu berubah.

Sebagai permulaan, beliau mencadangkan subsidi bersyarat yang dikaitkan dengan komitmen tidak membakar yang digabungkan bersama akses mesin dan pendidikan kepada petani.

Wichien kini melihat produknya melangkau ke sawah di seluruh Asia Tenggara dan akhirnya Afrika.

“Saya tidak mahu apa-apa lagi. Saya hanya mahu memastikan ia berjaya,” katanya. –UTUSAN

KUALA LUMPUR, May 24 — The current Covid-19 situation in Malaysia remains stable and has shown a significant downward trend compared to last year, with no deaths recorded so far this year.

The Ministry of Health (MOH), in a statement today, said although neighbouring countries have recently reported an increase in cases, the number of Covid-19 cases in the country up to Epidemiological Week (EW) 19/2026 had declined by 12.6 per cent (9,682 cases) compared to the same period last year.

“Although there was a 0.7 per cent increase (575 cases compared to EW18/2026), the situation remains under control.

“This is because the vast majority of reported cases only involve mild symptoms that do not require hospital treatment, and no Covid-19-related deaths have been recorded thus far this year,” the statement said.

The ministry said continuous genomic sequencing activities had also detected several new subvariants within the community, but the variants did not show any tendency to trigger a serious wave of infections.

“The ministry will continue to strengthen traveller screening at International Entry Points and cooperate with the Malaysian Border Control and Protection Agency (AKPS) in monitoring activities and public health preparedness to ensure early detection and immediate action can be implemented should there be an increased risk of Covid-19 transmission from abroad,” it said.

MOH said Covid-19 infections are now being managed under the category of common respiratory tract infections such as the common cold and influenza.

In this regard, the public is advised to continue practising self-healthcare measures, including maintaining hand hygiene, wearing face masks when symptomatic or in crowded areas, and obtaining vaccination protection.

“Vaccination is highly encouraged, especially for high-risk groups such as senior citizens, individuals with chronic illnesses, immunocompromised groups, and pregnant women to reduce the risk of infection complications.

“These vaccination services are available at selected government health clinics nationwide,” the statement said.

Recently, Singapore was reported to be monitoring a rise in Covid-19 cases after 12,700 cases were recorded for the week of May 10 to 16, compared to 8,000 cases in the previous week. — Bernama

KOTA BHARU, May 24 — The Kelantan state government is exploring the potential of rare earth elements (REE) identified in an area covering approximately 1,400 hectares near Ladang Subong, Gua Musang.

State Local Government, Housing, Health and Environment Committee chairman Hilmi Abdullah said the project is still at the exploration and sampling stage to determine the actual potential of the REE deposits before any commercial mining activities are carried out.

“This effort is being implemented in collaboration with Japan Organisation for Metals and Energy Security (JOGMEC).

“The state government is also currently in the process of granting approvals to government-linked companies (GLCs) and state agencies interested in participating in this effort,” he told reporters after officiating the opening of the Kelstone Cosmos Laboratory at the Bandar Baru Tunjong Business Centre here today.

The collaboration is being carried out through a Government-to-Government (G2G) approach and involves land owned by the Perbadanan Kemajuan Iktisad Negeri Kelantan (PKINK), which has been identified as having high potential for REE industry development, he added.

“The state government has issued a Proprietary Mining Licence for exploration purposes, but any mining activities are subject to approval of the Operational Mining Scheme, monitoring by the Department of Minerals and Geoscience Malaysia and an Environmental Impact Assessment.

“We want to ensure that the development of the REE industry in Kelantan progresses to the downstream stage but is implemented in a controlled manner and complies with environmental standards,” he said.

Meanwhile, in another development, Hilmi said illegal mining activities in the state are not serious and remain under control as such activities only involve certain districts.

“We have a special task force to monitor these activities, including having seized several machines involved in these unlicensed operations,” he said.

In an incident at about 6.30pm last Wednesday, two men died after being buried in a landslide believed to have occurred while they were illegally mining gold in an oil palm plantation area in Kampung Jerimbong, Kuala Balah, Jeli. — Bernama

KUALA LUMPUR: Kementerian Luar mengesahkan dua rakyat negara ini terbabit dalam kejadian sebuah bangunan runtuh di bandar Angeles, utara ibu negara Manila, Filipina, di mana seorang disahkan selamat.

Wisma Putra dalam kenyataannya, berkata pihaknya kini sedang giat mengenal pasti status seorang lagi rakyat Malaysia yang terbabit dalam insiden berkenaan.

Katanya, pihak kedutaan sedang berhubung rapat dengan pihak berkuasa tempatan bagi memantau keadaan warga negara yang selamat serta mengesahkan status dan keberadaan seorang lagi rakyat Malaysia yang terbabit.

"Pada masa yang sama, segala usaha sewajarnya sedang diambil bagi mengesan dan menghubungi waris kepada kedua-dua individu berkenaan," katanya, hari ini.

Beliau berkata, Wisma Putra sedang memantau dengan teliti perkembangan situasi berkenaan di mana operasi menyelamat sedang giat dijalankan bagi mengesan individu yang dikhuatiri terperangkap.

"Kementerian menzahirkan rasa simpati yang mendalam kepada semua pihak yang terkesan akibat insiden ini.

"Kedutaan Besar Malaysia di Manila sedang giat mengumpul maklumat sahih menerusi pihak berkuasa tempatan yang berkaitan bagi mengenal pasti keadaan sebenar di lapangan," katanya.

Beliau berkata, rakyat yang memerlukan bantuan konsular segera atau pihak yang ingin menyalurkan maklumat mengenai warga Malaysia lain yang kemungkinan berada di kawasan berkenaan, digesa untuk menghubungi Kedutaan Besar Malaysia di Manila.

"Mereka diminta menghubungi pihak kedutaan di menerusi talian am +63 286628200 dan kecemasan selepas waktu pejabat di +63 961 0778113 atau e-mel: Alamat emel ini dilindungi dari Spambot. Anda perlu hidupkan JavaScript untuk melihatnya..

"Kementerian Luar akan terus menyalurkan maklumat lanjut seiring dengan perkembangan situasi dan selepas maklumat sahih diperolehi," katanya.