VCI Global Limited Ventures Into AI-Based Smart Greenhouse Farming In Collaboration With Agroz Group
KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia, Oct. 19, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- VCI Global Limited (NASDAQ: VCIG) (“VCI Global”, or the “Company”) today announced it will be collaborating with Agroz Group Sdn Bhd to develop large scale, energy efficient artificial intelligence (“AI”) based smart greenhouses to address food security issues.
Food security has always been on the top of most countries’ agenda as global population continues to grow. From 8 billion in 2022, the United Nations has projected the world population to reach almost 10 billion by 2050. Undesired climate change, coupled with recent developments such as the Covid-19 pandemic and East European conflict, have increased countries' concerns on food security, with Malaysia being no exception. Department of Statistics Malaysia estimated that Malaysia's dependency on food imports, rose by almost 8% to RM55.4 billion in 2020 from the year before. In 2021, the import value was RM63.6 billion and this continued to increase to RM75.6 billion in 2022.
AI-based smart greenhouse farming provides the ideal solution to meet this inevitable significant leap in demand for food from the expanding population. The yield per acre would be higher than traditional farming as this type of farming extends growing seasons while AI-aided controlled environment minimises external threats to the crops, produces consistent quality of yields and reduces nutrient wastage just to name a few advantages of AI-based smart greenhouse farming.
Agroz is a vertically integrated agriculture technology (AgTech) solutions and services company that improves food security, food safety and sustainability. This is through its controlled environment agriculture (CEA) technologies that create superior agriculture growth effectiveness and efficiency to benefit communities, partners, and more importantly the planet. Agroz in fact is already building vertical farms and greenhouses across Malaysia with its products available at major restaurants, cafes, hotels, brand supermarkets, neighbourhood grocers and even direct to consumers. Vertical farming incorporates controlled-environment agriculture which includes soilless farming techniques utilising hydroponics where crops are grown consistently in vertically stacked layers to optimise plant yield without the use of any pesticide, insecticide, fungicide or herbicide.
“We believe we can play more than our part by offering our AI expertise in boosting food production. With space being literally limited, the ideal way forward to increase productivity is through CEA greenhouse farming where crops can be produced all year round. This collaboration will also help Malaysia’s reliance on food imports, easing the pressure on the foreign exchange also,” said Dato’ Victor Hoo, Group Executive Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of VCI Global.
“Combining VCI Global’s AI capabilities with our expertise and agricultural technologies, this collaboration will provide sustainable solutions to ease the pressure on food production, distribution and access,” said Gerard Lim, founder and Chief Executive Officer of Agroz Group.
About VCI Global Limited
VCI Global is a multi-disciplinary consulting group with key advisory practices in the areas of business and technology. The Company provides business and boardroom strategy services, investor relation services, and technology consultancy services. Its clients range from small-medium enterprises and government-linked agencies to publicly traded companies across a broad array of industries. VCI Global operates solely in Malaysia, with clients predominantly from Malaysia, but also serves some clients from China, Singapore, and the US.
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This press release contains forward-looking statements that are subject to various risks and uncertainties. Such statements include statements regarding the Company's ability to grow its business and other statements that are not historical facts, including statements which may be accompanied by the words "intends," "may," "will," "plans," "expects," "anticipates," "projects," "predicts," "estimates," "aims," "believes," "hopes," "potential" or similar words. Actual results could differ materially from those described in these forward-looking statements due to certain factors, including without limitation, the Company's ability to achieve profitable operations, customer acceptance of new products, the effects of the spread of Coronavirus (COVID-19) and future measures taken by authorities in the countries wherein the Company has supply chain partners, the demand for the Company's products and the Company's customers' economic condition, the impact of competitive products and pricing, successfully managing and, general economic conditions and other risk factors detailed in the Company's filings with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission. The forward-looking statements contained in this press release are made as of the date of this press release, and the Company does not undertake any responsibility to update the forward-looking statements in this release, except in accordance with applicable law.
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