Kuala Lumpur, 28 July 2021 - From traditional to modern farming, Malaysians can now enjoy greater access to a healthier food supply, with Sabah’s agritech start-up Nutribah at the forefront of it. Utilising Internet of Things (IoT)-based smart farming systems, Nutribah is able to boost operational efficiency, provide consumers with full transparency, and assist farmers in making better, healthier crop-related decisions.
Established in July 2020, Nutribah offers a wide selection of organic agricultural produce like pineapple, passion fruit, kale, sacha inchi, lettuce, and other organic vegetables. They also have a dedicated organic protein farm in producing protein-rich seafood such as organic prawns, groupers, seabass and empurau. As they understand consumer demand for sustainable, organic, and nutritious food, Nutribah ensures all of its products are free of antibiotics, chemicals, and pesticides.
Nutribah provides an integrated e-commerce marketplace for their customers where they can simply head over to their website and choose the products they want from the comfort of their own homes. Once orders are placed and confirmed, Nutribah immediately proceeds to harvest the products from the farm, clean, quality check and pack them for same-day delivery to guarantee farm-to-table freshness, higher accessibility, affordability, and quality control. Their products can also be purchased at local grocery stores, retailers and supermarkets.
Aside from their e-commerce solution, the brand’s IoT-based smart farming system utilises technology to upskill and reskill the local farmers. Through this technology, farmers will gain the digital know-how and skills that will allow them to monitor and control the environment of their farms. Nutribah’s real-time data will allow them to track weather predictions, air quality, humidity level, amount of light, temperature, soil conditions, and more, to ensure healthier crop growth. Ultimately, Nutribah aims to assist farmers in becoming more productive, profitable, efficient and environmentally friendly while digitalising the agriculture industry in Sabah.
“Nutribah was formed to spearhead the initiative focused on consolidating and innovating our homegrown organic produce and resources into a single platform that offers farm-to-table freshness. Through the use of IoT-based smart farming technologies, we are able to ensure that our crops grow and thrive within a controlled environment. Moreover, as our cultivation is less dependent on the climate factor, we are guaranteed to have sufficient supplies to make deliveries in time. This modernised approach also allows us to maintain a high hygiene standard, reducing the unnecessary exchanges between farmers, middlemen, retailers and consumers, especially at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic,” said Preston Sean, Executive Director of Nutribah.
The adoption of smart farming technology lowers wastage while increasing productivity. For instance, as the technology allows the farm to utilise natural water source, renewable energy and vermicompost fertilisers, it enables the farm to set competitive pricing for their produce thus creating value to consumers. This simultaneously reduces the impact on natural ecosystems as no chemicals will run off into rivers and groundwater. As with the absence of middlemen, Nutribah can directly connect with the markets and offer their customers competitive prices because the technology eliminates 3 middlemen - repackers, resellers or distributors, and retailers - from farm to table.
Providing A High Level of Transparency and Traceability to Consumers
Nutribah aims to be the first to bring supply chain transparency and traceability to a whole new level by setting up live streams of their organic farms on their website. Consumers will then have virtual access to their food source, guaranteeing Nutribah’s high level of accountability. This is because the company strongly believes that when consumers are aware of where their food is sourced, they will have more confidence and the ease of mind to make healthier lifestyle choices a step at a time.
Nutribah is a portmanteau of ‘Nutritious’ and ‘Sabah’, with ‘bah’ being Sabah’s one of the most common colloquial words used among locals. Since it was founded, the company has expanded into 6 organic farms and 3 wellness resorts throughout Sabah. They are located in Kalabakan, Tawau, Keningau, Lok Kawi, Kimanis and Penampang with a total area of more than 405 hectares. This is where they grow the freshest of organic produce with Sabah’s megadiverse, clean and natural climate.
Currently serving consumers in East Malaysia, Nutribah has also been exporting their organic and antibiotic-free prawns to a sub warehouse in Petaling Jaya, Selangor for distribution within Klang Valley. To find out more about Nutribah, visit their website at www.nutribah.com.
