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Cuban product may give fillip
to prawn industry
By Koh Lay Chin. New
Straits Times, Malaysia, May 1, 2005.
Prawn and shrimp breeders will be able
to breathe easy soon with a biotech product
that could make their fry resistant to diseases
such as the dreaded white-spot virus.
And no one is more thrilled than prawn
farm owner Hashnoel Murshim Hashim, the
first in Malaysia to try Acuabio 1, a growth
stimulator agent developed by a Cuban biotechnology
research centre.
Initial results during test trials have
shown that the product increased productivity
by 100 per cent.
"I am so excited with the results,"
said Hashnoel, managing director of Sumber
Nadi Alam Sdn Bhd.
He said his farm faced a lot of problems
when it started operations two years ago,
with the primary thorn in their side being
the white- spot disease.
The disease kills thousands of aquatic
animals each year. In 1999, the global shrimp
aquaculture industry suffered losses of
RM76 billion, including RM96 million in
Malaysia, to this disease.
"We did everything possible to manage
this but somehow it just never really worked.
The whole industry was having a problem
with white-spot. Then BioVen approached
me with the product and I jumped at the
opportunity. I have seen the results and
have a lot of hope," Hashnoel said.
Bioven Holdings Sdn Bhd is the company
that signed an agreement with Cuban company
Heber Biotec last year for the exclusive
licensing rights for the commercialisation
of Acuabio 1 in the Asean region.
Heber Biotec is the marketing arm of Cuba's
Centre of Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology
(CIGB), which developed the product.
Acuabio 1 is based on a combination of
proteins.
Hashnoel believes the product will change
the face of shrimp and prawn farming in
Malaysia and the region. "Acuabio 1
is all natural. So we are not using chemicals.
I am working closely with a Thai hatchery
which is also testing the product and the
results have been amazing. The growth of
the fry is super strong. It is like they
are supercharged." Suphon Angworachot,
the owner of the Thai hatchery, called S.
Sakrin, was at the interview and agreed
the product had yielded impressive results.
"I am very happy and think the product
is excellent. The difference in the fry
before and after you use the product is
quite astonishing," he said.
Bioven and Heber signed a memorandum of
understanding with Sumber Nadi Alam and
S. Sakrin during the BioMalaysia 2005 conference
last week. Sakrin has been appointed the
hatchery partner for the production of Acuabio
1- treated shrimp larvae for the local and
South Thailand markets.
Bioven Holdings chairman Datuk Mukhriz
Mahathir said that Acuabio 1 was almost
ready for the markets in Asean. Hashnoel
said with the product, Malaysia could now
catch up with other Asean countries in the
shrimp and prawn industry.
The country was the pioneer, he said, but
due to the white-spot disease and other
factors had lost out to countries like Thailand
and Taiwan.
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