MUST Industry & Academia Consultation Forum
“New Directions For Tobacco Farming in Malaysia; Technology Options”

Featured Speakers

Mr. Teo Hui Bek
Director-General, National Tobacco Board

Dr. Stefan Schillberg
Head of Dept. for Plant Biotechnology, Fraunhofer Institute, Germany

Venue
Malaysia University of Science and Technology (MUST)
Founders Hall
2nd Floor, Block C, Kelana Square
17 Jalan SS 7/26, Kelana Jaya
47301 Petaling Jaya

Date
Monday, 28 January 2008

Time
3:00 pm to 5:30 pm

Attire
Office / Smart Casual

Kindly R.S.V.P by 24 January 2008 to En. Rizal Mokhtar by calling 03-7880 1777 (ext 115) or email to

As part of the initiative to promote closer interaction between academia and industry, the Institute of Entrepreneurship and Management (IEM@MUST) is embarking on the MUST Industry & Academia Consultation Forum. The aim of the forum is not only to help identify industry R&D needs but also to obtain realistic feedbacks on human capital requirements of the marketplace. Through such consultation, the postgraduate R&D at MUST can be designed to be more market-driven, while the academic programmes will cater more to the needs of industry and business.

The forum will deliberate on issues of the tobacco industry in Malaysia, more specifically those concerning tobacco farming. In Malaysia, tobacco farming is an important economic activity of the rural household in the states of Kelantan, Terengganu and to some extent Kedah and Pahang. However, the growing of tobacco in Malaysia cannot compete with the lower-cost producers in Thailand and Indonesia.

Under the new AFTA ruling, all support for tobacco farming measures will have to be phased out. This will further erode Malaysia’s competitiveness. Lately, the tobacco farmers have been asked to change to other crops such as kenaf and jatropha. Though these can eventually be viable options, tobacco farmers given the choice would want to continue growing tobacco.

Is there a way for tobacco farmers to continue growing tobacco profitably despite the AFTA rules? A possible option for the farmers is to grow the kind of tobacco which produces more than just tobacco. This is where genetic engineering can play a role. It is an accepted fact that tobacco is amongst the most easily transformed crop. So why can’t tobacco be modified biologically to produce other higher value added products such as vaccines or other therapeutics?

Mr. Teo Hui Bek is the current Director-General of the National Tobacco Board, which is under the purview of the Ministry of Plantations Industries and Commodities. He has spent many years introducing strategies to sustain the development of the local tobacco industry. He has also been actively working with relevant ministries and companies in promoting the use of tobacco for medical research as well as convincing tobacco farmers on the socio-economic benefits of Kenaf as a replacement crop for tobacco. Notwithstanding that, he is open to other technological options to help the tobacco farming community.

Dr. Stefan Schillberg is head of the department for Plant Biotechnology at the Fraunhofer Institute for Molecular Biology and Applied Ecology in Aachen, Germany (50 employees). He received his Ph.D. in Molecular Biology from the RWTH Aachen University in 1994. Current activities in his laboratory focus on production of pharmaceutical protein in plants, metabolic engineering of plant biosynthesis pathways, phytoremediation and the engineering of novel agronomic traits in crop plants. Dr. Schillberg has written 39 peer-reviewed scientific publications, published 30 book chapters and holds 9 filed or granted patents. At the managerial level, Dr. Schillberg has extensive experience in project acquisition and management, technology and information management, the supervision of large groups, marketing, strategic planning and filing intellectual property.