ECER Allocates 7,400 Hectares For Pineapple Project In Pahang

KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 3 (Bernama) — The East Coast Economic Region (ECER) is
allocating 7,400 hectares in Pahang to create a Pekan-Rompin pineapple integrated
development project, a move to help Malaysia regain its dominance as the world’s top
three pineapple producers as in the 1960s and 1970s.
The areas identified are Permatang Bedon (2,000 hectares) in Pekan, and Kampung
Jemari (5,000 hectares) and Kampung Tebu Hitam (400 hectares) in Rompin, the ECER
secretariat said in a statement Thursday.
About 2,000 hectares will be planted with pineapple for the fresh fruit market and 5,000
hectares for varieties appropriate for canning.
The overall development will also generate cattle feed from the skins of pineapples that
have been processed, the secretariat said.
Currently, Pahang has only about 58 hectares of pineapple farms. Kelantan has the
largest area among the three East Coast states with 309 hectares, followed by
Terengganu with 169 hectares. Johor’s Mersing, which is involved in the ECER, has 27
hectares.
“The nucleus farm concept will be adopted and will involve the private sector and
smallholders,” the secretariat said.
“About 70 percent of the land will be developed by an anchor company or companies and
the balance by smallholders under the outgrower scheme,” it said.
Potential anchor companies include Lee Pineapple Co Pte Ltd, Pineapple Cannery of
Malaysia Sdn Bhd and Polyno Resources for canning and Malaysia Agrifood Corp for fresh
market.
The varieties of pineapple promoted in the project area are Gandol and N36 for canning,
and Maspine, Josaphine and Mauritus (Eng Kee) for the fresh market, where each
outgrower will be given between five and 10 hectares of land to plant the varieties of the
fruit, the secretariat said.
In recent years, Malaysia has to import more and more pineapples from countries like
Thailand and Indonesia to meet its domestic demand.
At present, the domestic production of pineapple stands at 300,000 tonnes annually,
grown over 15,000 hectares of pineapple land.
Under the Agriculture and Agro-based Industry Ministry’s balance of trade plan which
identified pineapple as one of the fruits to be given priority, the target is to produce a
million tonnes by 2010 from an additional area of some 50,000 hectares with assumed
yield of 20,000 tonnes per hectare.
— BERNAMA