KUALA LUMPUR (Sept 6): Genting Plantations Bhd has invested in a joint control stake in Green World Genetics Sdn Bhd (GWG).

In a statement on Tuesday (Sept 6), Genting Plantations said the investment underpins a joint collaboration between it and GWG to establish Malaysia as an important regional seed hub and beyond that, to address the issue of national food security through the development of new crop varieties.

Genting Plantations said being one of the early purveyors of life sciences and a firm believer in technology and innovation, the group had achieved many milestones and recognitions such as being the first in the world to sequence the oil palm, Jatropha and Ganoderma genomes, coupled with the development of high yielding and Ganoderma resistant palms.

It said that over the years, the initiative has significantly expanded into other food as well as non-food crops and evolved to take advantage of new technologies such as big data, Internet of Things (IoT) and artificial intelligence (AI).

Meanwhile, it said GWG is recognised as one of the few pioneering organisations in the region that engages in multi-disciplinary crop research programmes.

Genting Plantations said that since 2007, GWG has expanded its diversified operations across the Asia Pacific region and engaged with breeders from the US, China, Thailand and Mexico in seed research and development.

It said the company currently operates a total of 14 research centres and stations engaging in activities such as breeding, hybrid production, evaluation and stock seed multiplication for a wide range of commercial crops.

Genting Plantations chief executive Tan Kong Han said the investment in GWG brings together Genting Plantations’ deep genomic knowledge and GWG’s extensive germplasm collection for the development and commercialisation of optimised food crop varieties that are suitable for cultivation in tropical regions.

“The strategic initiative is expected to accelerate both companies’ efforts in multi-disciplinary crop improvement research programmes using biotechnological tools such as molecular marker-assisted selection,” said Tan.

Meanwhile, GWG chief executive officer Dr Chua Kim Aik said quality seeds are the key to a good harvest.

“GWG’s business focus is to develop high quality hybrid seeds though innovative technologies to enhance the genetic profile of crops to reduce biotic constraints such as diseases and pests, increase yield, and improve crop nutritional value and eating quality,” said Chua.

At 11.36am, Genting Plantations added two sen to RM6.60 with 4,800 shares done.