Recommended literature

The CHATSEA workshop reviewers recommend I look up Agrawal and Freidberg without warning me that there are a gazillion Agrawal and Freidberg but I've decided that these two are the most probable candidates.

Arun Agrawal
Faculty of Political Science at Yale

Susanne Freidberg
Faculty of Geography at Dartmouth

Cultural and Social Geography Cluster

Today I finally find myself in a research cluster in the department. Unfortunately, I was one of 2 grad students attending the meeting and the other one was a PhD/staff! Sigh. I was a fish out of water. The most out of place. Luckily I got to keep myself busy and useful being the note taker. I'm a sucker for these things I know.

Seems like graduating Masters students don't have the incentive to join such cluster. I guess I appreciate the experience for future academia endeavors.

There is also a lot of issues of straddling more than one group. Alas. Why must we only join one group? Some research subjects simply cross these artificial sub-discipline divides.

Meanwhile, I finally managed to return one of the library books which I've been seriously sitting on and not doing anything.

So much to do, so little time.

Edit:
To show my support, I wrote my little write up for the CSACGA(?) website

TAN Monkey, M.Soc.Sci
Thesis Topic: Singapore and its Agricultural Hinterlands: Urban Demand Impact on the Environmental Behaviour of Malaysian Vegetable Farmers

Research Interests:
* Social Capital and Nature Conservation
* Social Ecology of Conservation and Development
* Sustainable Consumption and Production
* Ecological Footprint and Food Systems
* Environmentalism and Cyberadvocacy

Approval to conduct research at NUS

Date: 27 March 2008

We are pleased to inform you that the NUS institutional Review Board has approved the above-mentioned research to be carried out in the Department of Geography, Faculty of Arts & Social Sciences, National University of Singapore.

w00t!

New concepts I learnt today

Ecological Modernization
Reflexive Modernity
Habermas's theory of communicative action

Elling, B. (2008) "Rationality and the environment : decision making in environmental politics and assessment" London ; Sterling, VA : Earthscan

I talk too much

I got a feedback, not from my students, but from a junior who was in a neighboring tutorial room and he overheard my class. He said I "pamper" them too much and talk too much.

ok, talking too much is bad because we're supposed to give students a chance to talk in tutorial.

Gawd I'm doomed. I can just see the feedback now... "not given enough opportunities to talk"

*sigh*

Personally I spend a lot of time "arrowing" students to talk or asking them to answer question otherwise giving out "presents" in order to give them an incentive to talk. But the more time I waste trying to wait for an answer, or more time spent on hearing different opinions, means I don't get a chance to run through the "correct" answer with them. We assume the students would supply the "right answer" in their answer. Sigh. Ok I must try to move on from each question quickly which I find is a big problem myself. My time management can be very poor.

Ethics to Epistemology

Originally for my graduate research seminar, i was going to write a 2000 word essay on ethics in phenomenological studies but today after a chat with my senior grad student, he inspired me to think about paradigms in environmental geography. So now instead I will be writing about paradigms and methods in environmental geography.

I don't know why I didn't think of it before. But he said it occurred to him straightaway. Then again, I was focused too much on writing something easy instead of what would be good or useful. I should really focus more on the ideal rather than the pragmatic. Don't want the Singapore virus biting me on the ass.

Don't know why I didn't think of it but isn't thinking about concepts and epistemology, changing paradigms part of my PhD plans? The more I should get a head start thinking in these directions. Does this mean I am also lacking in calibre?

Still need to do a bit of reading, writing and consulting, but here's what I wrote in the introduction.

"The subject of the environment and human-environment studies is one that spans a broad spectrum in the discipline of Geography. The term “environment” in Geography can be used to describe one’s surroundings and conditions or more specifically, the physical environment. For the former, concepts of environmental determinism, environmental perception and environmental behaviour are more frequently applied in such studies of such human-environment interactions. However, for the latter, the environment becomes the center of focus for a wide range of studies from physical geography to political and social geography. It is this latter definition that will be adopted in this essay in the examination of paradigms and methods in Environmental Geography. This essay seeks to examine the spectrum of sub-discipline and topics within Environmental Geography. With different paradigms dominating different ends of the excessively encompassing field of environmental geography, differing epistemology and methods ensue. As such this essay will discuss the push for integration between the various methods."

Finding jobs

My senior got offered an asst manager position in the Ministry of Manpower's foreign workers policy division. While it's superbly exciting, hearing about the process of application has gotten me very worried. They are usually asked to write essay and interviews involve discussing issues and what not. I think I'll fail.

Sigh. Maybe it's good I just stay as an academic lol so far I've never had a job that require such extensive testing. Perhaps that says a lot about the quality and level of my positions in these organizations. Perhaps also if I work in a field which I am known in... For example I simply cannot imagine if I would be asked to write an essay if I were to interview for a position in EDO. However, I'm really interested in policy and I'm sure that would require writing examinations. Sigh.

I must buck up!

IRB hates me

I hate IRB.

They are seriously causing me trouble or am I just lousy at anticipating trouble?

Alright so I took a week to do my revisions which is a pain and then she replied saying I need to send her a version that shows where the changes are when I deliberately gave her the copy that removed tracked changes coz I thought it would look more appropriate. Thank god for the function in Word to compare documents for changes.

Fine and then she sent me email asking for "copy of your correspondence with the Malaysian officials who have ascertained that your research does not require their approval, if this is available."

Is it just Malaysia but why do none of my friends got asked if they have proof of official approval to do field work in overseas countries?

After I replied saying I got verbal advise from XXX official, she replied "I will forward your responses to the IRB and revert if there are further queries."

Which means that there will be more delay?!

I am going nuts! I need to move forward with this research!

Radio feature on marketing of healthy food

Got a tip off by Heather of Food for All on News 93.8fm having a segment on the marketing of healthy food versus what's actually done. Unfortunately monkey doesn't have radio.

I wonder if they have a transcript.

What type of seminar speaker am I?

Budak sent me this link on the typology of speakers you find at department seminars. I wonder which kind I am. Somebody should make a quiz out of this. lol

Critical me thinks I'm lullaby or 4-seminars-in-1 but optimistically I would like to be hitchcock or the motivational types. I kinda just prefer to dump aesthetics to wow the crowd. I haven't really given many academic presentations yet but I tend to say too much. rattle on. too much to say. Bad bad bad. Unless I'm talking about environmental things then I can even begin to be a bit better.

Which type are you?

How the myth of food miles hurts the planet

Robin McKie
The Observer (UK)
Sunday March 23 2008

Ethical shopping just got more complicated. The idea that only local produce is good is under attack. There is growing evidence to suggest that some air-freighted food is greener than food produced in the UK. Robin McKie and Caroline Davies report on how the concept of food miles became oversimplified - and is damaging the planet in the process.

This article comes at a perfect time, to show how looking at farming methods matters as much as distance.

"But the idea that 'only local is good' has come under attack. For a start, food grown in areas where there is high use of fertilisers and tractors is likely to be anything but carbon-friendly, it is pointed out. At the same time the argument against food miles - which show how far a product has been shipped and therefore how much carbon has been emitted in its transport - has been savaged by experts. 'The concept of food miles is unhelpful and stupid. It doesn't inform about anything except the distance travelled,' Dr Adrian Williams, of the National Resources Management Centre at Cranfield University, told The Observer last week.

Given that the food miles cause was hailed only a few months ago as the means to empower the carbon-conscious consumer, such criticisms are striking, and suggest that some careful reassessment of the concept's usefulness has been going on.

Certainly the issues involved no longer seem clear-cut. Consider that supermarket stalwart: green beans from Kenya. These are air-freighted to stores to allow consumers to buy fresh beans when British varieties are out of season. Each packet has a little sticker with the image of a plane on it to indicate that carbon dioxide from aviation fuel was emitted in bringing them to this country. And that, surely, is bad, campaigners argue. Rising levels of carbon dioxide are trapping more and more sunlight and inexorably heating the planet, after all.

But a warning that beans have been air-freighted does not mean we should automatically switch to British varieties if we want to help the climate. Beans in Kenya are produced in a highly environmentally-friendly manner. 'Beans there are grown using manual labour - nothing is mechanised,' says Professor Gareth Edwards-Jones of Bangor University, an expert on African agriculture. 'They don't use tractors, they use cow muck as fertiliser; and they have low-tech irrigation systems in Kenya. They also provide employment to many people in the developing world. So you have to weigh that against the air miles used to get them to the supermarket.'"

At the same time, this helps on the matter of greening lifestyles:

"When you do that - and incorporate these different factors - you make the counter-intuitive discovery that air-transported green beans from Kenya could actually account for the emission of less carbon dioxide than British beans. The latter are grown in fields on which oil-based fertilisers have been sprayed and which are ploughed by tractors that burn diesel. In the words of Gareth Thomas, Minister for Trade and Development, speaking at a recent Department for International Development air-freight seminar: 'Driving 6.5 miles to buy your shopping emits more carbon than flying a pack of Kenyan green beans to the UK.'

'Half the people who boycott air-freighted beans think they are doing some good for the environment. Then they go on a budget airline holiday to Prague the next weekend,' adds Bill Vorley, head of sustainable markets for the International Institute for Environment and Development. 'They are just making gestures.'"

Cheng Lim Keak

I have been reading these 2 papers by a Dr Cheng Lim Keak that used to be with the Dept of Geog in NUS. He is obviously no longer here and I saw that in some search on google that he is involved with some Chinese degree. It's awfully weird but he gives off the vibes of the school of chinese-educated academics from Singapore / Nanyang University.

He wrote 2 papers on the fresh food supply in Singapore which gave me an excellent background on the supply and distribution of vegetables in Singapore. However at points, his papers are highly politically incorrect and sometimes I'm not sure how grounded in facts are his statements.

Still, I don't deny how much I've hit the treasure trove in this one. The diagrams and schema of supply/distribution system potentially is very helpful but needs updating.

But the SEARCA workshop reviewers did suggest better literature grounding and I have to really buck up on that! I have been thinking about the CSR greening of supply chains as another possible concept.

Reading List
Cheng LK (1982) Fresh Food Supplies in Singapore. GeoJournal. Issue 4. pp 61-72

Cheng LK (1990) Social Change and Fresh-Food Marketing in Singapore. GeoJournal. 20(3). pp 301-310

Farming out my research

In an attempt to gain more manpower for my research, previously I mentioned recruiting Food for All to help out in the conducting of surveys. However, having met Heather today, she seems hardpressed for manpower too so I decided to ask Wilson of ECO for help in getting school students to adopt this as their CIP (community involvement project).

He seems quite keen but sadly he has to make it sound like it's a partnership with ECO although the email he sent out is not very clear who the partnership is with. It sounds like ECO is running the research but that's alright. I will clarify with the teacher when it comes to the crunch. So this is my original email to Wilson and how I propose the CIP project to be:

Dear Wilson,

I am currently conducting a research on the impact of Singapore's vegetable consumption on the environmental and conservation behaviour of farmers in Malaysia as part of my Masters Dissertation in NUS Department of Geography. A part of the research includes a survey of consumer behaviour in Singapore, their consumption behaviour and their attitude towards organic or sustainable produced food.

I am hoping that this survey element of my research can be incorporated as the CIP project for upper secondary school or JC students.

Essentially, they would be required to conduct a total of 1000 survey questionnaires across Singapore with household decision-makers at various locations selling fresh vegetables such as supermarkets and wet markets. Each survey will last maximum 15 minutes. That means for a class of 40 students, each student will only need to conduct 25 surveys. The students could do this at their own leisure or complete all within one day as long as I receive the data by June.

In addition to the survey, I propose the following:

1) A group of students could be in charge of researching and creating a blog about sustainably produced or organic vegetables and food, the issues related to organic food or even about the organic food produced in Singapore.

2) Another group of students could help with the data entry of the surveys results. No analysis is required but if they wish to incorporate some of the information into the blog, that should be fine.

At the end of the project, the students could launch this blog as an useful web resource for Singaporeans. In addition, to the discretion of the teacher in charge, the students could have a presentation or exhibition in school or in class.

I am anticipating a total of 10 CIP hours per students for this project.

Prior to the project, I will also be happy to give a talk to the students about the issues relating the importance of knowing where our food come from, my project, their role in my research and briefed them on how to carry out the surveys and field research methods. If necessary, I will also assign students according to the location where they will conduct the survey as they have to be fairly spread out across the island.

Accepted for Los Baños dissertation workshop

Dear Monkey,

The ChATSEA project review team is very pleased to inform you that your application to the Los Banos
dissertation workshop has been accepted. We believe that the student applications to this workshop
represent a very exciting set of research efforts, and we look forward to a successful workshop in Los Banos.

Please note the following short comments on your application from the reviewing team:

1. A good research question, but the reviewers encourage the student to locate the paper more in relation to a relevant literature, for example, Freidberg, Agrawal

2. The proposal should be expanded and further developed, to reach closer up to the 4,000 word guideline. If you have any further questions at this point, please do not hesitate to contact us.

We look forward to being in further contact, and to meeting you in the Philippines on May 29th.

Yay hurray how exciting :) Now I just have to improve my proposal.

Consumer Surveys

Today I emailed Heather of Food for All and asked if she would be willing to provide the volunteers needed to conduct the survey of consumers I need for my study. I only need 100 respondents but if they are willing to do more over a long period and be fully in charge without me to prod, having more respondents would be excellent and they would be able to use the data for their campaigns as well.

If I can get the consumer side of the equation out of the way, I will be very happy and can focus on interviewing retailers, wholesalers and producers. Not forgetting the gahmen people!

Finally scored a meeting with AVA

I finally wrote to AVA and scored a big fish. It's amazing how I simply wrote to the general enquiry email and asked for the person in charge of the Riau Vegetable Project and the Head of Horticulture replied.

Meeting her tomorrow (12 March 2008) at 10am in the middle of nowhere.

Uploaded with plasq's Skitch!

Ok it's not really in the middle of nowhere but to get to Khatib at 10am? And then walking in? *gulp* Think I might just take a cab in and claim the cost.

Now if only I can think of the questions to ask her.

Relevant AVA officers

I was looking through the AVA directory to find a person I could email regarding the Riau Vegetable Project. While I was unable to do so, I did manage to identify several positions which may be interesting for my research.

Import / export / transshipment of vegetables & fruits; licensing of traders
63257620, 63257599, 63257285
lily_ling@ava.gov.sg and teo_yen_ling@ava.gov.sg
website

Testing of food & food products
67952829, 67952822, 67952835
liang_soo_mui@ava.gov.sg, noorrani_sahul@ava.gov.sg, siling_lee@ava.gov.sg

Food labelling & advertisements
63258552, 63258556
diana_lee@ava.gov.sg, tan_yi_ling@ava.gov.sg

Agrotechnology & land-based farms
62575291, 67591648
thomas_chia@ava.gov.sg, yeo_meng_wah@ava.gov.sg

Good Agricultural Practices (GAP) Certification
63257635
khoo_gek_hoon@ava.gov.sg
Vegetable farming in singapore

Agricultural pesticides
63257100, 63257680
low_bee_leng@ava.gov.sg, jannie_wan@ava.gov.sg
Website

Veterinary Public Health Centre
Agri-Food & Veterinary Authority
10 Perahu Road
Singapore 718837

Veterinary Public Health Laboratory
Tel: (65) 67952822 / 67952829
Fax: (65) 68619491

Inspection Services & Epidemiology Division
Tel: (65) 67952830 / 67952821
Fax: (65) 68619492

Of course, the general enquiry email:

Agri-Food & Veterinary Authority
5 Maxwell Road,
#01-01 / #02-03 / #03-00 / #04-00 / #18-00
Tower Block, MND Complex
Singapore 069110
Tel: (65) 62221211
Fax: (65) 62206068
ava_email@ava.gov.sg

There are also some subsidiaries like:

Agrifood Technologies Pte Ltd
5 Maxwell Road #03-00
Tower Block, MND Complex, Singapore 069110
Tel: (65) 6325 7654
Fax: (65) 6325 7331
E-mail: foo_siang_ming@ava.gov.sg
Website

Singapore Fruits & Vegetables Importers & Exporters Association
Singapore Fruits and Vegetables Importers and Exporters Association (SFVIEA) was first established in 1984 by a group of fruits and vegetables importers in Singapore.
Website [cannot view on mac]

Singapore Agri-Food Business Directory
Website

Directors to look out for:

Dr Chew Siang Thai
Deputy CEO
Director, Food and Veterinary Administration
Tel: 63257600
Email: chew_siang_thai@ava.gov.sg
Key responsibilities include:
* Food safety
* Animal and plant health
* Animal welfare and control
* CITES
Under Dr Chew, the following Deputy Directors:
1) Dr Astrid Yeo (DD Import and Export, Head of Import and Export division)
Tel: 63257686
Email: astrid_yeo@ava.gov.sg
2) Ms Seah Huay Leng (DD Food Control, Head of Food Control Division)
Tel: 63255480
Email: seah_huay_leng@ava.gov.sg
3) Dr Leong Hon Keong (DD Inspection Services and Epidemiology)
Tel: 67952820
Email: leong_hon_keong@ava.gov.sg

Under Dr Astrid Yeo, within Import/Export, there is a Plant Regulatory Branch
Within which there is a Fruit & Vegetables Inspection Section
Address : Blk 1 Pasir Panjang Wholesale Centre #03-03 Singapore 110001

Senior Import & Export Officer
Miss Lily LING
63257620
lily_ling@ava.gov.sg

Senior Import & Export Officer
Ms TEO Yen Ling
63257599
teo_yen_ling@ava.gov.sg

Senior Import & Export Officer
HIU Joon Hong
63257285
hiu_joon_hong@ava.gov.sg

Principal Import & Export Inspector
ONG Teng Soon, PB, PBS
67734394
ong_teng_soon@ava.gov.sg

Senior Import & Export Inspector
TEO Soon Hock, PBS
63257684
teo_soon_hock@ava.gov.sg

I've only included the people within the section that has email. Others are included in the singapore government directory. Mainly lower level officers.

Under Food Control Division, there are also very interesting sections:
Pre-Market Approval Branch
Post-Market Surveillance Branch
Survey & Safety Review Branch
Import Control Branch
Food Legislation & Factory Control Branch

Most of these are under the purview of Dr Chew. However there are also such as:

Dr Hilda Loh
Director, Policy & Corporate Communications Department
Key responsibilities include:
* Policy and planning
* Corporate communications
* Information resource management
* International relations
--> seems to be under an acting director, Dr Choo Li Nah, as of December 2007
Tel: 63257689
Email: choo_li_nah@ava.gov.sg
Under her:
1) Mr Koay Sim Huat (AD/Head international affairs) - one person unit
2) Ms Rubinah Karyeo (Senior Manager Policy & Planning Division) - 3 person unit

Mr Leslie Cheong
Director, Food Supply & Technology Department
Chief Fisheries Officer
Tel: 63257604
Email: leslie_cheong@ava.gov.sg
Key responsibilities include:
* Food supply and agri-trade facilitation
* Agri-regional project development
* Agrotechnology development
* Consultancy and advisory services
--> Under Mr Leslie Cheong, I think focusing on local food supply:
1) Mrs Renee Chou (DD Agri-Technology)
- mostly just for fisheries and horticulture.
2) Mrs Tan-Low Lai Kim (AD/Head Post-Harvest Division)
- split between veggie and fishery post harvest technology
3) Mr Chin Yew Heng (DD Food Supply / Head Food Supply and Agri-tech infrastructure)
- there is a Food Supply Resilience Branch under this division headed by
Miss LEE Siew Mooi, PPA(G)
63257330
lee_siew_mooi@ava.gov.sg
They are in charge of food sourcing.
The other branches under Food Suply are farm management of agri-tech parks in Singapore and farm licensing, mariculture management, tenancy, etc. as well as fishery port management.

Environmental Geography Academics

Found very interesting academics in Kings College London's geography department!

Dr Michael K Goodman (website)
Alternative food production and consumption, ethical and fair trade systems, contemporary consumption and commodity geographies, rural development, qualitative research methods.

Goodman, D. & GOODMAN, M. (2001) Sustaining foods: Organic consumption and the socio-ecological imaginary. In Exploring sustainable consumption: Environmental policy and the social sciences eds. M. Cohen & J. Murphy, pp. 97-119. Elsevier Science, Oxford.

All his works are so interesting and relevant!

He's interested in supervising PhD topics on "Consumption-scapes" and "'Alternative' forms of Consumption and Development". Wow I like the idea of alternative forms of consumption and development. Throw in conservation there and I'm happy monkey.


Dr Daanish Mustafa (website)
Research Interest: Critical water resources geography; social networks and environmental management; global approaches to terrorism; South Asia.

MUSTAFA, D. 2007 (forthcoming). "Flood Hazard" in The Encyclopedia of Environment and Society. Edited by Paul Robbins. Thousand Oaks (CA): Sage Publications.

MUSTAFA, D. 2005(6). (Anti)social capital in the production of an (un)civil society in Pakistan. Geographical Review. 95(3): 328-347.

Wah my boss in brunei

haha how come he go brunei i also dunno.. eh.. no wonder he never reply my email :P

Climate Change: Mitigating Its Effect
By Khairunnisa Ibrahim
4 March 2008

Brunei-Muara - Climate change is a very real issue that needs to be addressed because of its impact on human, ecosystems and the environment.

This was shared by Professor Victor Savage from the National University of Singapore (NUS), who gave a talk on climate change and mitigation issues yesterday at Universiti Brunei Darussalam (UBD).

He said that it would take the concerted effort of all, especially the multi-national companies and the most developed countries in the world, to mitigate its effects, not only in terms of reducing emissions, but also deforestation and ecological footprints.

Here on the invitation of UBD's Geography Department, the NUS lecturer enlightened the audience on the different theories on climate change and global warming, the impact of the changing climate and weather patterns' and what needs to be done to mitigate these impact.

Among the impact mentioned were rising sea levels, widespread health problems, food security, water stress, species extinction and extreme weather.

To illustrate how climate change contributes to worsening health, Savage used Singapore as a case study, noting that in the densely-populated city-state, rising temperatures cause tropical diseases like dengue and malaria to become more widespread. The problem is exacerbated given the country's compact settlements.

One of the ways to mitigate climate change, said Savage, is by putting the focus on the main culprit, the biggest producers of greenhouse gases.

According to Savage, the worlds richest make up 20 per cent of the population, but produce 80 per cent of global income and output. Among the biggest emitters of carbon dioxide are the United States, European Union countries, China and India.

In terms of per capita emissions in 2005, Singapore had the second highest, producing 35 tonnes of carbon per person annually.

Singapore and Brunei both have high per capita carbon emissions, said Savage. This is due to two reasons: the countries' small populations and large oil and gas industries.

Energy systems should also be switched to those that are cleaner, safer and more effective, and that encourage the use of hydrogen energy vehicles and public transport to reduce harmful emissions.

Other mitigation measures mentioned include having benchmarks for environmental management, related laws and regulations and political sustainability.-- Courtesy of The Brunei Times

UC Berkeley PhD Program

For the sake of my california-based lao gong
The Ph.D. Program in Environmental Science, Policy, and Management
UC Berkeley Geography

Other california programs:
San Diego State University Geography
UCLA Geography
Stanford Interdisciplinary Grad Program in Environment and Resources - they are funded by betchel. forget it.

Saw an email about UK and found some very interesting faculty!!
King's College Department of Geography

Why is it that the environmental studies are all under Geography? Am I doomed to be in Geography forever? should I resign to my fate already or should I look towards Yale as my sole shining star in this otherwise gray path?

Funding Resource

Found a most amazing scholarship resource.

http://www.getscholarship.net/

Cameron Highlands in July

July, it would appear, is a bad time to go to Cameron Highlands. It's peak season and EVERYBODY wants to go there.

Mr Chua replied me via SMS today that the apartment is already booked from 1st July onwards. The very day I was hoping to go to CH to begin my fieldwork. I think I'll have to do 2 weeks in June, and find alternative accommodations in July and possibly August as well. I'm waiting for Mr Chua to get internet access again to see my email.

I've also been checking out the budget hotels in Cameron Highlands. Cameron Highlands Online is a fantastic resource page and seems quite well updated.

Considering my extremely tight budget, I really must stay in a cheap cheap cheap place. I wonder if this monkey can survey 1 month of staying in a dormitory... I might disintegrate. But for the cheap rate of 10RM per night I wonder if I am willing to rough it out. Not forgetting I need to pay about 100RM per day for the vehicle/driver. Woe!

IRB 1st Contact

Last week I submitted my IRB form via the department. I had mostly copied a senior's IRB application format as his was approved. However, today I got my first email contact from the IRB secretariat with some other unfavourable responses.

Dear Ms Tan,

Project title: Singapore and Its Agricultural Hinterlands: Urban Demand Impact On The Environmental Behaviour Of Malaysian Vegetable Farmers

We refer to your submission for IRB review which we received on 03 Mar 2008. As the FASS GRSS funding is indicated as pending on the application form, please advice if this research will still be carried out regardless of the GRSS grant application outcome. Please note that review by the Board will commence only if the funding is approved or if there are other sources of funding to support this research.

If this study will proceed regardless of the GRSS grant application, please address following:

1) Please submit the following for the review by the Board:

• IRB Application Form: Please complete Section VII of the application form.
• Participant Information Sheet and Consent Form (with Version and Date). Please reference attached Guidelines On Participant Information Sheet And Consent Form.
• Will the list of questions provided in Appendix A1: Aide Memoire be applicable to the interview with the Agencies officials, Government agencies, Retailers, Supermarket Merchandisers and Wholesalers. If otherwise, please provide the list of questions that will be asked to this group of subjects.
• All Survey forms to be used in this research.
• Data collection forms (if any) (with Version and Date).

Please also email us the files of the above document for our records.

2) Please also let us have a copy of the GRSS grant application proposal for our reference.

Thank you.

Perhaps I am too ambitious as previously criticized but I noticed that most people only do interviews with one type of respondents while I have interviews with 5-6 different group of respondents PLUS surveys. Serve me right.

But most of these forms are missing because honestly? I was lazy. Anywho, I have already sent them saying that I would self-fund if GRSS doesn't go through. Also I also sent them my grant application proposal. On top of that I'm working my butt off to finish the aid memoires and survey questions tonight. I'm half way done already. *pleased*