Uggah (front, third left), in the company of (from second left) Manyin, Dr Abdul Rahman, Sagah and Riot presents a symbolic key to the CPPC to Chong.
KUCHING: The state collecting, processing and packaging centre (CPPC) for durian in Tarat near here has helped farmers to earn extra income from their surplus durian fruits.
Without the CPPC, these surplus durians would have been left to rot in their garden.
During its initial days of operation, the centre received 300 to 500 fruits everyday from the farmers but now it is buying over 10,000 tonnes of durians daily, said Deputy Chief Minister Datuk Amar Douglas Uggah yesterday.
The Tarat CPPC began operation on Dec 30 last year.
Uggah, who is also Minister of Agriculture, Native Land and Regional Development, said this after officiating at the soft opening of the Tarat CPPC.
The Tarat CPPC is a former Agriculture Department centre for processing pepper. It was refurbished into the CPPC last year plus the necessary equipment at a cost of over RM5 million.
Uggah said the government was keen to see the industry develop further because of the huge demand for local durians, especially from China.
“Our emphasis is to maintain the existing 426,000 matured trees.
“But in all, plus the Musang King, we have 890,212 trees state-wide. And we still have plenty of land,” he pointed out.
Uggah said the government had decided on a business model involving an anchor company for the export of durians.
“This is the policy of our Chief Minister Datuk Patinggi Abang Johari Tun Openg to have the CPPC which is a game changer.
“For us, we have engaged a company Top Fruit Sarawak, which has all the experience in growing and processing durians. It has a factory each in Kuala Lumpur and Johor which meet the food quality standard of 11 countries including China. But most important of all, it has the markets.
“The Tarat CPPC would be upgraded to allow it to obtain international quality certification like the HCCP, GMP and others,” he said, adding at least eight more CPPCs would be set up in the state to process not only durians but other local fruits.
“We too would like to appoint more anchor companies. Please let us know if there are those having the international food quality standards,” he said.
Top Fruit Sarawak managing director Chong Yie Loong said many local farmers had expressed their gratefulness over the existence of the CPPC.
“It had helped them to earn extra income for their fruits which they would have left at their gardens to rot if they were not collected or if there were no buyers,” he said.
Chong said he was glad to note that the indigenous species were considered as good as the Musang King by durian lovers in China.
“Tourists coming over to sample them had said they were just as delicious. We eventually hope to develop a Sarawak brand for our durian overseas. In this way we can promote greater awareness, acceptance and sale,” he said.
Joining the visit were Minister of Education, Science and Technological Research Dato Sri Michael Manyin Jawong, assistant ministers of Agriculture, Native Land and Regional Development Datuk Roland Sagah and Dr Abdul Rahman ismail as well as Serian MP Datuk Seri Richard Riot and state assemblymen Martin Michael Ben (Kedup), Dennis Ngau (Telang Usan) and John Ilus (Bukit Semuja).
Others present were permanent secretary to the Ministry of Agriculture, Native Land and Regional Development Awang Johari Awang Mustapha, State Agriculture director Dr Alvin Chai and a political secretary to the chief minister Dr Richard Rapu.