SOA Expert Talk Series - Lunchtime Seminar by Prof. Khoo Gaik Cheng
"Consumption, production and the ethics of the durian supply chain" by Professor Khoo Gaik Cheng
You are invited to a talk on the consumption, production and ethics of the durian supply chain, presented by Professor Khoo Gaik Cheng from SOA.
Details
- Date: 20 November 2024 (Wednesday)
- Time: 12.00PM - 1.30PM
- Venue: Design Studio 3, Level 9, Sunway University
Durians, especially the premium cultivar Musang King (Māo Shān Wáng 猫山王 ), are in high demand and considered a luxury product in China, where it canfetch up to four times more its worth in Malaysia. Not only are the Chinese eating it fresh, but many novel savoury dishes have been invented with durian as itsmain ingredient (hot pot, durian pizza). But how do these durians get to your local supermarket? And what are costs of producing the durian for the globalmarket? Scaling up durian production from small family orchards of 3-4 acres to largescale monocrop plantations of 10,000 acres have socio-economic and ecologicalconsequences. How do you ensure that your durians are environmentally sustainable and ethically produced?
Focusing on the supply chain, this study adopts a posthumanist perspective that regards the relationships of the human stakeholders not only with each other but also with other non-human actors like the durian, its pollinating agents, other plants, even the individual minerals in the fertilizers, as part of a natureculture continuum. It concludes with some policy recommendations and hard questions for durian investors, producers and durian lovers.
