GEORGE TOWN, May 21 -- The Asian barn owls, natives of Malaysia, are known as "silent guardians" - whose voracious appetite for rats protects valuable crops on local farms.

Since 2014, the Barn Owl and Rodent Research Group (Borg) from Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM) has been encouraging the conservation of barn owls and introducing the species to padi farms and oil palm plantations as natural pest control agents.

Borg, spearheaded by Associate Professor in Pest Management Hasber Salim, has successfully introduced thousands of artificial nest boxes to attract barn owls to oil palm plantations and farms nationwide since then.

Recently, 20 artificial nest boxes were installed in padi farms in Kepala Batas to reduce pesticide costs and in...