Uggah (second left) speaks to Disam (second right) while others look on. Khairuzamri is at left.
Some of the MD2 pineapple planted at Disam’s farm at Kampung Padang Pan.
Mohd Khairuzamri M Salleh
KUCHING: Sarawak has a very big potential in pineapple farming after Johor, especially the MD2 premium variety.
Malaysian Pineapple Industry Board (MPIB) deputy senior director Mohd Khairuzamri M. Salleh, who stated this, said the MD2 pineapple has been planted in Peninsular Malaysia all this while.
“We brought the MD2 to Sarawak because of its richness and we want local farmers to also earn income from it, not only farmers in Peninsular Malaysia.
“MD2 pineapple is the world’s premium variety pineapple which has very high demand in many countries because of the sweetness and is a special species on its own,” said Khairuzamri.
Mohd Khairuzamri was met recently at the first harvest of Premium Pineapple Pioneer Project owned by a local agropreneur, David Disam, at Kampung Padang Pan in Bau, an event officiated at by Deputy Chief Minister Datuk Amar Douglas Uggah Embas.
Currently, Sarawak is the second largest pineapple producing state in Malaysia after Johor (8,429 hectares).
Pineapple farming in Sarawak as at 2017 covers about 1,342 hectares of land with total production of 38,025 metric tonnes generating revenue of RM48.22 million.
Currently the total pineapple production in the country is about 438,811 metric tonnes with total production value at RM610 million.
Khairuzamri said Malaysia is now on a planting expansion programme for the MD2 variety as it has a high demand and what is requires is suitable land and manpower which are abundant in Sarawak. Furthermore, the Agriculture and Agro-based Industries Ministry through the MPIB had allocated a huge grant for the pineapple development programme in Sarawak.
“Under the 11th Malaysia Plan (2016-2020) Sarawak received allocation of RM40 million for the pineapple sector (RM25 million for MPIB, RM15 million for the Integrated Agricultural Development Area (IADA) Kalaka, Saribas).
“The allocation breakdown for 2019 (for the pineapple sector) is RM10 million for Sarawak (RM6 million for MPIB and RM4 million for IADA Kalaka, Saribas).
“With a big opportunity like this, the Sarawak government will give its full support to the development of the pineapple industry in the state and targets to increase the land size of pineapple farming to 3,500 hectares by 2020,” he said.
Farmers who are keen to do pineapple farming can visit MPIB Sarawak and seek consultation with the officers.
Among other matters that could be considered for pineapple farming are location of the land, type of land and irrigation.
Meanwhile, Uggah when met at the function said Sarawak has almost two million hectares of NCR land, 60 per cent of which is hilly and suitable for pineapple farming.
“I am sure other areas have a lot of potential as well. Pineapple is one of the crops that we want to develop for domestic consumption as well as for export. Pineapple farming contributes to zero waste. Everything in the pineapple can be used. We can sell the fruits, and the suckers, the leaves can be made into threads (for textile industry) and the main plant can be processed into animal feed.”