GUA MUSANG: A durian trader and entrepreneur in Kampung Batu Papan 2 has been forced to throw away about a tonne of musang king, kampung and jungle durians that have turned bad.
Chong Yok Fon, 55, said the losses involved various types and sizes including grade A durians which can be sold at RM68 per kilogramme.
He said to avoid waste, he had to offer the king of fruits that did not meet the standard for sale for free to customers who came to his farm.
“Every morning we will separate the fruits according to size and grade. If there are any fruits that are broken or bad and were attacked by insects or pests, we will not sell them to customers.
“Some of these fruits can still be eaten, processed into other dishes and some are also more suitable for tempoyak. It’s up to the customer,” he said when met by reporters here today.
Chong said every week an estimated 200 to 300 kilogrammes of rotten durians are taken out from his farm.
He has about 1,000 durian trees aged between 10 and 40 years, said the number of fruits customers take is not limited, and they are even welcome to take them home.
“If no one is interested, we will have to throw them away, besides having to bear the losses due to the unpredictable weather in the past two months.
“The change in weather, which is very hot during the day but rain at night, also disrupts the growth of the fruit. Most old and large trees do not get enough water and that affects the production of fruit,” he said, adding that many young fruits also dropped off due to strong winds. -BERNAMA
