Although one of the major users of flocculants are water and wastewater treatment industries, flocculants are also used in various food industries. The chemical flocculants are preferred widely in these industries due to low production cost and fast production ability. However, the negative effects of the chemical flocculants should not be neglected to gain the economic benefits only. Therefore, the researchers are working to discover efficient and economical flocculants from biological sources. Several attempts have been made and are still being made to extract or produce bioflocculants from natural sources such as plants, bacteria, fungi, yeast, algae, etc. The review revealed that significant amount of work have been done in the past, in search of bioflocculant. However, commercially viable bioflocculants are yet to be marketed widely. With the advent of new biotechnologies and advances in genetic engineering, the researchers are hopeful to discover or develop commercially viable, safe and environmentfriendly bioflocculants.
Using Stimulus–Organism–Response (S-O-R) framework, this study examines Stimulus–
Response relationships of fresh vegetable consumers’ behavior in Klang Valley, Malaysia. In
particular, the study focused on how loyalty drivers affect retail formats choice by the fresh
vegetable (FV) consumers. The Stimuli that pertain to loyalty drivers include promotional
activities, perceived price and social interaction and the Response is the retail format choice.
Three hypotheses were developed and tested with the data collected from a survey using
simple random sampling technique. Structural Equation Model (SEM) was used in analyzing
the data. Results of the study revealed that Stimuli (loyalty drivers) influence Response (retail
format choice) for the different FV markets in Malaysia. Based on the finding of the research,
Malaysian retailers have different marketing strategies to be considered with regards to loyalty
drivers.
Malaysia depends on imports for its fragrant rice, mostly from Thailand, Vietnam, India and Pakistan. The fragrant rice farming in non-granary areas has been included in the new Entry Point Project (EPP) under the National Key Economic Areas (NKEA). In order to realize the aspiration of producing fragrant rice in large areas, it would require full participation and commitment from the existing and new farmers. The objective of this paper is to investigate farmer’s acceptance towards fragrant rice farming in two districts namely Pasir Mas and Tanah Merah, located in the state of Kelantan. The respondents of the study are 23 farmers and in-depth interviews are carried out to obtain farmers’ responses towards fragrant rice farming. The results from the content analysis reveal innovation characteristics, extension services and market pressure are among several factors that explain farmers’ acceptance towards fragrant rice farming.