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Enabling Regenerative Agriculture for Independent Smallholders in Indonesia: The BIPOSC Project, in Collaboration with Musim Mas, L3F, SNV Indonesia, and ICRAF

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JAKARTA, Indonesia, Oct. 17, 2024 /PRNewswire/ — Musim Mas Group, the Livelihoods Fund for Family Farming (L3F), SNV Indonesia, and World Agroforestry (ICRAF) are collaborating to improve the knowledge and capacity of independent oil palm smallholders through the Biodiverse & Inclusive Palm Oil Supply Chain (BIPOSC) project.

The project began in 2021 and takes a long-term approach to sustain a deforestation-free supply chain, regenerate degraded land, restore local biodiversity, and improve the livelihoods of independent smallholder farmers in Labuhanbatu, North Sumatra. BIPOSC will achieve this through implementing regenerative agriculture, locally adapted agroforestry models, capacity-building for sustainable businesses, and others.

The independent palm smallholders taking part previously received complementary training from Musim Mas. Following the training, these smallholders formed a smallholder’s association, Labuhanbatu Independent Oil Palm Smallholders Association (APSKS LB), North Sumatra. Musim Mas encourages smallholders to form associations to get better access to resources and obtain certification by the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) and Indonesian Sustainable Palm Oil (ISPO).

“Musim Mas has long saw that smallholders are key to achieving palm oil sustainability, and that’s why we lead Indonesia’s most extensive smallholder program. We believe that the way forward is to collaborate with more partners to achieve a wider impact. With our BIPOSC partners, we hope to advance the skills and knowledge of smallholders through regenerative agriculture and related techniques. Regenerative agriculture and agroforestry have the potential to help smallholders be part of a sustainable palm oil supply chain. It could help them develop alternative sources of income, especially during the replanting period where their palm oil crops are unproductive, typically for three years,” said Rob Nicholls, General Manager, Projects & Programs, Musim Mas Group.

In the face of climate change and threatened biodiversity, regenerative agriculture can play a role for small farms because it maintains soil health, prevents erosion and water runoff, and can potentially reduce greenhouse gas emissions and nitrogen leakage.

“As a global development partner organization, SNV aims to support Indonesia in achieving its Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). To achieve this, we need to implement effective and impactful programs to transform agricultural and food systems, energy, and water. In the BIPOSC program, we promote a comprehensive regenerative agriculture and agroforestry model to maintain soil fertility and biodiversity, providing maximum benefits for farmers’ livelihoods and economy,” said Rizki Pandu Permana, Country Director of SNV Indonesia.

The key regenerative agriculture techniques taught include the application of bio-input, mulching to protect topsoil, planting cover crops, integrated pest management that reduces the need for chemical pesticides, and application of compost that reduces the amount of chemical fertilizers needed. To date, 1,032 independent smallholders received training and implement these techniques on their farms, representing a total land with a total area of 1,063.68 hectares. The project trained 25 village facilitators to provide hands-on assistance to smallholders, and seven demo plots established as pilot areas and learning facilities for regenerative agriculture.

“When I visited palm oil smallholders a few years ago in the area, their biggest concern was access to more fertilizers. While fertilizers play a key role in boosting yields, there was a noticeable gap in understanding how to protect the soil from long-term degradation. Smallholders needed more knowledge about maintaining soil health, preserving soil structure, and other critical factors. This is exactly what the BIPOSC project aimed to address, and we’re pleased to see that the farmers involved are now reporting not only higher yields but also healthier soils on their plots,” said Bernard Giraud, President & Co-Founder, Livelihoods.

The projectalso looks into capacity-building. In addition to home composting, the project enabled the local farmer association, APSKS LB, to develop and manage a composting unit with a capacity of 100-150 tons/month. Producing compost at scale with inputs from nearby mills and farmer plots, the unit offers compost to member farmers at half of typical market prices. In 2023, its first year of operation, the unit produced 588 tons of compost, and generated a profit of IDR 421 million. The project partners believe it is a model that can be replicated elsewhere.

“One of the most impactful outcomes of this project for smallholders is the Composting Unit as the business model around it. It enables smallholders to obtain compost affordably, and the profits are shared among member farmers. This is a practical solution to promote the adoption of composting, and all ASPKS-LB smallholders are now using compost in their plots,” said Syahrianto, Chairman of the Labuanbatu Independent Oil Palm Smallholders Association.

As of 2023, independent smallholders manage about 41% of oil palm planted areas in Indonesia, representing 6.94 million hectares. This figure is expected to increase to 60% by 2030, making projects like BIPOSC critical in shaping the future of sustainable palm oil production.

Devane Sharma
media@musimmas.com 

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SOURCE Musim Mas Holdings

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LITEON Debuts Integrated AI Cloud Server Rack Solutions Powered by NVIDIA at 2024 OCP Summit

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October 18, 2024

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Pioneering Green Data Centers with Five Key Technologies: Power Supplies, Liquid Cooling, Racks, Software, and Systems

AI. Revolutionized. Green Resilience.

SAN JOSE, Calif., Oct. 17, 2024 /PRNewswire/ — LITEON Technology (2301.tw) is participating in the 2024 OCP Global Summit ( Open Compute Project ) in San Jose, USA, from October 15 to 17. Under the theme “AI. Revolutionized. Green Resilience,” LITEON will debut its new “Integrated AI cloud server rack solution.” This solution combines LITEON’s five key technologies: high-performance power supplies compliant with ORV3 standards, comprehensive liquid cooling systems, integrated mechanical design, intelligent power management software, and hardware-software system integration. Additionally, LITEON will showcase power supplies, racks, and liquid cooling systems compatible with NVIDIA architectures at the event. These include support for the NVIDIA GB200 NVL72 platform with a high-efficiency power system and NVIDIA MGX™ with modular system design racks, as well as liquid-to-liquid and liquid-to-air cooling solutions from LITEON. These innovations aim to enhance high-performance computing capabilities, efficient energy management, and cooling performance in data centers during the AI era, helping customers achieve low-carbon green data center energy management goals and creating comprehensive high-end AI computing system solutions.

Anson Chiu, the president of LITEON, states: “The AI-driven era has already transformed lifestyles and industries. Leveraging our deep technical expertise in high-end cloud server power supplies, LITEON integrates five key core capabilities: power, cooling, racks, software, and systems. This showcases LITEON’s comprehensive autonomous design and development technology. We continue to create sustainable and high-performance integrated server rack solutions, helping our customers achieve sustainable operations in green data centers, and pioneering a revolutionary new landscape in the AI field.”

“LITEON COOLING,” LITEON’s comprehensive liquid cooling solution, brings revolutionary changes to the cooling systems of green data centers, meeting the high-performance AI computing needs of data centers. At this event, LITEON showcases five liquid cooling series products. These include a fanless design 5600W Cold Plate Power Supply Unit with titanium-level efficiency, a liquid-to-liquid multi-intelligent in-row CDU 600kW,, liquid-to-liquid 120kW in-rack CDU compatible with the NVIDIA GB200 NVL72 platform, and liquid-to-air 140kW sidecar with the highest heat exchange efficiency, also compatible with the NVIDIA GB200 NVL72 architecture. These solutions offer flexible combinations for customers to meet various field and application needs, overcoming the limitations of traditional air cooling, significantly improving cooling efficiency, and enabling data centers to maintain high-performance workloads while reducing energy and carbon footprint consumption, creating more environmentally friendly green resilient data centers.

At this OCP exhibition, LITEON also showcases integrated cabinet power systems and solutions. These provide 97.5% high-density power conversion efficiency to meet the high-performance computing applications of AI servers. Additionally, LITEON’s self-developed intelligent power management system (PMC) offers customers digital management and remote real-time monitoring to assist decision-making, along with a robust power backup system featuring high-efficiency lithium battery backup power (BBU). Supported by intelligent power management software, it visualizes energy consumption patterns to ensure data center reliability.

LITEON integrates the advantages of five core energy management technologies, combining mechanical design, power system solutions, thermal management technology, and hardware-software integration capabilities. Paired with revolutionary server liquid cooling solutions, the integrated server rack design provides customers with rapid deployment in data center applications, committing to the advanced development of green resilient data centers.

For more information about LITEON’s power and liquid cooling solutions of green data center, please visit : https://www.liteon.com/en/solutions/green-data-center

LITEON’s Booth of OCP 2024 Information :

Date: October 15 – 17, 2024Location: San Jose McEnery Convention CenterBooth No.: C17-18Contact: Simon.Ong@liteon.com

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SOURCE LITEON Technology

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Taobao Malaysia Kicks Off 11.11 Sale, First Time in Both Chinese and English

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October 18, 2024

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Exciting early-bird perks await new and existing Malaysian users

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia, Oct. 18, 2024 /PRNewswire/ — The highly-anticipated Taobao 11.11 Sale (“11.11”) is back, set to be bigger and more inclusive for Malaysian consumers. With the theme “Shop As Far As You Can Think,” this year’s festival promises attractive offers and an unparalleled shopping experience made even more accessible through Taobao’s beta English Interface, introduced in September to complement the Chinese version.

Starting from 21 October, 8pm, Malaysian shoppers can indulge in a month-long celebration of exciting promotions, enticing instant discounts and chances to grab daily free shipping vouchers worth RM21, discovering exceptional bargains on a wide range of products across participating brands and merchants, from home essentials and fashion items to electronics accessories and more.  

Jess Lew, Country Manager for Tmall Taobao World, Malaysia, said, “We are thrilled to bring Taobao’s 11.11 Sale back to Malaysian consumers and enhance it to be bigger and better than ever. Our commitment is to create a shopping experience that is not only enjoyable but also tailored to the unique needs of local shoppers. With the beta English Interface now available, it has never been easier for everyone in Malaysia to immerse themselves in the excitement of this global shopping festival and discover all that Taobao has to offer.”

The festival kicks off with an early first sales window, running from 20:00:00 on 21 October to 23:59:59 on 24 October 2024, allowing shoppers ample time to check out their shopping cart items to enjoy early-bird 11.11 savings and early arrivals. The second phase will then follow, starting from 20:00:00 on 31 October and running until 23:59:59 on 11 November, where consumers enjoy extended promotional offers to secure their ideal products for the upcoming Christmas and Chinese New Year seasons.

Malaysia was one of the only two markets, alongside Singapore, where Taobao has rolled out a beta English Interface. Featuring artificial intelligence (AI)-powered translations, the new interface aims to bridge language barriers and provide non-Chinese-speaking Malaysian users with the opportunity to enjoy the platform’s diverse offerings in a seamless, user-friendly experience.

“We hope more Malaysian users will leverage this opportunity to shop for anything that comes to mind during this 11.11. Coupled with free shipping, shoppers can have their parcels delivered to their doorsteps in as fast as one week with our robust end-to-end logistics infrastructure,” added Lew.

To mark this year’s 11.11, Taobao Malaysia has curated a series of attractive promotions designed to give Malaysian consumers more ways to save:

Everyday Free Shipping: Stand a chance to grab free shipping vouchers daily at 10am worth RMB35 (equivalent to RM21) throughout the 11.11 period with no minimum spend.Buy More, Save More: Get a platform-wide discount of RMB50 for every RMB300 spent (equivalent to RM29 off for every RM170 spent).Surprise Instant Discounts: Check out daily at 8pm from 21 to 24 October to unlock an instant discount of up to RM300.Daily Promo Codes: Stand a chance to snag promo codes worth up to RMB111 (equivalent to RM66), released daily at 9pm on Taobao Malaysia’s Facebook and Instagram.New User Perks: New Taobao app users can claim exclusive benefits worth up to RM90, including:3 x Free shipping vouchers worth RMB105 (equivalent to RM65) in totalRMB30 off with a minimum spend of RMB31 (equivalent to RM18 off with a minimum spend of RM19)Service fee waiver of up to RMB15 (equivalent to RM10)Free return on first order (for West Malaysia only)

Additionally, Taobao Malaysia users making purchases with one of the following credit cards provided by third-party financial institutions can enjoy an instant discount of up to RM80 during the selected promotional periods:

31 October to 3 November; 10 to 11 November, 8PMCIMB: RM25 off with a minimum spend of RM180RHB: RM38 off with a minimum spend of RM250 OR RM50 off with a minimum spend of RM500PBB: RM30 off with a minimum spend of RM300 OR RM80 off with a minimum spend of RM600

Only on 31 October, 10AMRHB: RM25 off with a minimum spend of RM250

Only on 8 November, 10AMPBB: RM20 off with a minimum spend of RM200

The Taobao app is available to download for FREE on both the Apple App Store and Google Play Store. For more details on Taobao Malaysia’s 11.11 promotions, please stay tuned for updates on the Taobao Malaysia Facebook, Instagram and TikTok social media channels or visit the Taobao app.

* The platform rules will prevail over the specific promotion details.

About Taobao Malaysia
Taobao Malaysia aims to facilitate convenient shopping on Taobao and Tmall for consumers in Malaysia. Through the Taobao app, Malaysian shoppers can access billions of products, complete with logistics, payment and other services and offers tailored to their individual market needs. Taobao Malaysia is part of Alibaba International Digital Commerce Group.

View original content to download multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.com/apac/news-releases/taobao-malaysia-kicks-off-11-11-sale-first-time-in-both-chinese-and-english-302280001.html

SOURCE Taobao Malaysia

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Sennheiser launches the MD 421 Kompakt – an appropriately named, compact version of legendary all-rounders, the MD 421 and MD 421-II

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October 18, 2024

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“Anything. This is the mic for that.”

SINGAPORE, Oct. 18, 2024 /PRNewswire/ — They say that if you’ve heard music, you are most likely to have heard the MD 421, a Sennheiser microphone featured in countless award-winning performances and productions over the past six decades. Now Sennheiser launches the MD 421 Kompakt, an incredibly versatile microphone that delivers the same legendary performance, but in a truly multipurpose package — including a completely redesigned mounting clip. The MD 421 Kompakt features a cardioid pick-up pattern and remarkable dynamic range, delivering crystal-clear sound reproduction in live sound and recording applications.

“The MD 421 is an incredibly versatile microphone. Since its inception in 1960, it excelled as a studio and a vocal microphone, but was also used a lot in broadcasting, where it appeared with many celebrities of the time. Today, its successor, the MD 421-II, which launched in 1998, is an all-rounder for multipurpose miking and well known to be used on drums, guitar cabs and horns,” says Bertram Zimmermann, Manager Live Sound & Studio. “It works on anything, capturing the sound source with precision, detail, and rich sound.”

“With the MD 421 Kompakt, we’re offering the same legendary sound and ability to handle high sound pressure levels, but with an incredibly compact form factor,” adds Jimmy Landry, Category Marketing Manager MI.

Compact design, same great sound

To give the MD 421 microphone its compact dimensions all while retaining the large-diaphragm capsule and the pristine sound of the much bigger MD 421-II, the bass roll-off switch was eliminated. “While this feature made total sense when the MD 421 was designed, and was carried over to the MD 421-II, this functionality has long since been taken over by mixing desks and DAWs,” says Zimmermann. “Omitting the switch allowed us to create a relatively small microphone body, making the Kompakt an ideal tom mic, but also a versatile tool for any recording or live application.”

Sound-wise, the MD 421 Kompakt delivers the same detailed and authentic reproduction of the sound source that the MD 421 and MD 421-II have become famous for. The microphone’s frequency response of 30 Hz to 17 kHz faithfully reproduces both high and low frequencies, with a bass tube ensuring an accurate and extended low-end response. The sound is rich and full-bodied, and incredibly clear and detailed at the same time.

The MD 421 Kompakt also provides effective feedback rejection, and is able to handle exceptionally high sound pressure levels even in demanding environments.

New clip

The clip of the MD 421 Kompakt has been entirely redesigned, and is now part of the microphone housing for easy, worry-free mounting. “The clip is the one thing that users have always criticised,” remarks Landry. “The new clip is an integral part of the mic, and the optional drum clamp securely screws into this clip, ensuring fail-safe mounting on drums.”

Rugged all around

The MD 421 Kompakt is designed to withstand the rigours of touring and heavy studio use. It features a rugged frame with a stainless-steel basket, and a gold-plated XLR-3 connector. A protective inner chassis enclosure reduces the exposure to dust and humidity.

Availability and pricing

The MD 421 Kompakt is available now for EUR 279 (MSRP), the version for drums comes complete with an MZH drum clamp and retails at EUR 299 (MSRP). The MZH drum clamp included with the drum version is also available separately for EUR 19 (MSRP). The MD 421-II will remain in the portfolio alongside the MD 421 Kompakt.

View original content to download multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.com/apac/news-releases/sennheiser-launches-the-md-421-kompakt–an-appropriately-named-compact-version-of-legendary-all-rounders-the-md-421-and-md-421-ii-302280009.html

SOURCE Sennheiser Electronic Asia Pte Ltd

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