TUTONG: A local entrepreneur, 73-year-old Hj Mohd Salleh Hj Kula organised a Durian Eating Festival at his residence in Kg Lugu, Jalan Tutong from 10am to 5pm yesterday. For the price of just B$5, the one-day festival lured a huge number of visitors, Borneo Bulletin reported.
Among the many visitors who came to the farm were a group of 10 members of the PDK Mutiara Kg Ganggarak, Labuan comprising individuals with disabilities led by its chairman, Sulaiman Bijo. They came to know the durian sampling event through the social network Facebook and included it in their itinerary as they are here as part of their year-end activity.
According to Awg Hj Mohd Salleh, his plantation efforts began 20 years ago when he bought over 11 farms in the Mukim Lamunin area from his friends. Due to his attachment to a government department at that time, he had to work on his plantations during his off days. Today he is proud of all his hard work throughout the years.
He added that apart from the 50 local durian trees of different types, he also planted other local fruits such as manggis, langsat, rambutan, cempedak and many more.
The idea of having the promotion came from his wife, 64-year-old Dyg Hjh Siti Hajah, who suggested to invite their friends and families to the farm and enjoy sampling the fruits, rather than selling them along the roadside.
Since then, the family has organised the activity by inviting people to come over with their families and children to experience picking their own durians, carrying them in a woven basket locally known as “Tekiding” and eating them fresh off the trees.
Hj Mohd Salleh also hoped to see the agriculture sector develop well and wished to see interested parties come forward as venturing into this field would give a stable income in the long term.
“We need technologies like in other countries such as processing of canned and dried fruits that can be made as a local product and might even have the potential to be exported abroad.”
He called on the new generation to be more observant in seeing the potential in the agriculture sector and to do their research in this field.
“The country is still in need of more experts in this field. Haying our own local expertise will even help double the profits of local fruits harvest in the future,” he added.