RANAU: The proposal to establish a Sabah durian industry board is expected to be a new catalyst for the development of the state’s durian sector without burdening farmers with cess payments, said the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food Industry, Datuk Jamawi Jaafar.
He said that efforts to establish the board were not new, but had been discussed for a long time and were now being refined with working papers that had been brought to the Cabinet.
“This proposal is not new. We already have the working papers and have been brought to the Cabinet. However, previously there was concern that if the board was established, it would be a burden on durian farmers,” he said when officiating the closing of the Ranau Durian Farmers Association General Meeting at the Lohan Rest House on Saturday.
Jamawi said that the farmers’ main concern was the possibility of the board imposing cess on durian produce as practiced by several other boards.
“However, for this durian board, we are trying to ensure that it provides more assistance and support to farmers, rather than imposing cess on durian fruit produce,” he said.
He is confident that the establishment of the special board will help plan and strengthen the durian industry, especially in increasing the production of premium durian in Sabah.
Advertisement
“So far, we are only able to produce about 40 percent of the premium durian requirements, while the other 60 percent is still imported from Peninsular Malaysia,” he said.
He explained that premium durian refers to high-quality varieties such as Musang King, Blackthorn and IOI which are in high demand in the market.
In this regard, he urged farmers to take the opportunity to convert durian kampung into premium durian through adult grafting techniques.
“In Lohan, I found that there are six people who are skilled in adult grafting. So we will help through certain initiatives,” he said.
As a start, he announced funding for the first 500 trees for the adult grafting process in Ranau.
“For Ranau, I will sponsor the first 500 trees for adult grafting. Farmers can make a claim directly with me based on the report submitted,” he said.
According to him, Sabah currently has about 20,000 hectares of durian crops, of which only 5,000 hectares are premium durian.
He said that the dumping of durian kampung every season has caused the price to drop to as low as RM3 per kilogram, thus affecting the income of farmers.
“We don’t want farmers to earn just ‘ngam-ngam’. We want them to have surplus income, that’s why we encourage the conversion to premium durian,” he said.
Meanwhile, he explained that the hot weather phenomenon due to El Niño this year caused all durian planting areas in Sabah to flower simultaneously.
“Usually the season is staggered between Ranau, Sipitang, Tenom and Keningau, but this year they are all at the same time. In the next three to four months, we expect a dumping of durian,” he said.
In this regard, he said, the Government is planning to strengthen the collection and processing centres for agricultural produce to overcome the issue of dumping.
“Keningau is already there, Tenom is being built, and I will try to get allocations to build a collection centre in Ranau this year,” he said.
He also stated the need to upgrade agricultural roads to facilitate the transportation of produce, but the existing allocations are still insufficient.
“The ministry’s allocation is only around RM4 million per year, while in just four months we have received applications worth RM12 million,” he said.
He said that the poor condition of agricultural roads, including those that can only be passed by four-wheel drive vehicles, continues to make it difficult for farmers to produce produce.
“I will continue to fight for additional allocations for village roads and irrigation systems,” he said.
In a related development, he said, the State Government is optimistic about the payment of 40 percent of Federal revenue to Sabah which is expected to increase allocations for the development of the agricultural sector.
Meanwhile, he also promoted the Kitchen Garden initiative that was implemented earlier in Sabah to strengthen food security.
“This initiative provides an opportunity for the people to grow crops and raise livestock on a small scale at home at a lower cost through subsidies and discounts,” he said.
He said the Kitchen Garden tour would be carried out in all 25 parliamentary constituencies in Sabah, with the next location in Papar on May 1.
“Through this initiative, we want the people to have their own food sources and be able to face any economic crisis in the future,” he said.
Also present were the President of the Ranau Durian Farmers Association, Datuk Japiril Suhaimin; Ranau District Officer, Tinus Manggam; Chairman of the Kinabalu Farmers Association, Datuk Haji Faimin Kamin; Executive Officer of the Ranau District Council; Elmer Endra Datuk Matius Sator and President of the Ranau District Four-Wheel Drive Association, Aliyu Zinin.
In a separate programme, Jamawi visited Kampung Bongol, Tamparuli to monitor the agricultural roads for farmers there.
