Sago Extract Enterprise / Fairul Azuan B. Abd. Zaim...[et al.]

The Sago palm (Afetrmylon sagu Rottb.) has been known in trade in South East Asia for at least 700 years. According to Berkill ( 1966), sago was ,mentioned by Chinese
writers in the 12th Century. It is a hapaxanthic (once flowering) and soboliferous
(suckering) feather-leaf palm which accumulates starch in its trunk during its
vegetative phase of growth. Most of the several species of starch producing palm,
Metroxylon sagu is by far the most important palm exploited commercially for starch
production.
Sago palm belongs to the family Palmae Jussieu, subfamily Calamoideae Griffith,
tribe Calameae Drude, subtribe Metroxylinae Blume and genus Metroxylon Rottboell
(Uhl and Dransfield 1987). This palm can reach a length of 6-16 m and has
approximately 24 leaves or fronds. It is often cultivated and grows well in freshwater
swamps. The higher the number of the crown carries, the larger the diameter of the
trunk. Each month, one new frond appears out of the growing point. and the oldest
one dies.
The one of the most popular product from Sago palm is starch food called Kepurung
or Ambuyat. This food is known widely in Beaufort. Kuala Penyu, Sipitang, Kota
Belud area and moderately interest at Tawau, Sandakan and Lahad Datu. The home
made Kepurung and Ambuyat had been eaten so Jong as the sources of energy
substituting the rice. ln addition, sago's is now can be a great ingredient of noodles,
Vermicelli (bee hoon), biscuits and many other foods. Some are used as feed stuffs
for animal and livestock, pulp and paper industries.
One hundred grams of dry sago yields contain 355g calories, an average of 94 g of
carbohydrate, 0.2 g of protein, 0.5 g of dietary fiber, IO mg of calcium, 1.2 mg of
iron, and negligible amounts of fat, carotene, thiamine, and ascorbic acid.
In recent research at Universiti Sarawak (UniMas), the sago's can be produce as Biopetroleum
and diesel replacing fossil fuel that already exist right now. Thus, this new
discovery attracted many intention of local and foreign investor to invest more on
this experiment.
As are result, our group totally agrees to run this project as our entrepreneurs' project
on the name of Urban Sago Extract Enterprise.