28/06/2011 (Bernama) - The Crops for the Future Research Centre (CFFRC) is expected to receive a funding of nearly RM113 million (US$40 million) over seven years from the government to carry out research on a whole range of under-utilised crops.

The centre, the first of its kind in the world, is co-hosted by the University of Nottingham Malaysia Campus in Semenyih, in partnership with the government.

It is specifically designed to evaluate under-utilised crops from across the globe for food and non-food uses as part of the global crops for the future (CFF) entity hosted in Malaysia.

"Out of the total fund, RM46 million will go for the infrastructure which will take about 18 months to complete, while the remaining money will cover operational costs over seven years," said CFFRC Chief Executive Officer Prof Sayed Azam-Ali after Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak launched the facility here today.

The CFFRC was confident of being financially self-sustainable when research projects started to come in, he said.

The centre will have access to facilities at the University of Nottingham campuses in Malaysia, the UK and China, national agencies such as the Malaysian Agricultural Research and Development Institute, and leading universities in Malaysia.

It will also have operational links with other CFF entities, Biodiversity International and other international agencies in Africa and South Asia.

"In poor and impoverished regions of the world, there are plants that have survived despite no research and science. This is our chance to find out what those plants would be like as crops for the future," Sayed said.

He said the centre would seek out crops which may have the potential to be grown for human sustenance or on commercial basis for food, pharmaceutical or biomaterials.

The main architectural features of the CFFRC are three iconic domes housing living laboratories.

It will be surrounded by botanical gardens of alternative plants which can be studied in the field and under more controlled conditions in laboratories and polytunnels.

The building will be constructed using environmentally efficient technology and materials.

In addition to the new state-of-the-art research facility, CFFRC will have access to 50 hectares of oil palm plantation alongside the existing campus to develop field research on under-utilised crops.

Sayed said with the support of the Malaysian government and the oil palm sector, CFFRC would have the opportunity to look at ways of diversifying the oil palm industry -- the biggest agricultural product in South East Asia.