JPB Asia Pacific Sdn Bhd, the Northen Corridor Investment Authority (NCIA) and Universiti Malaysia Perlis (Unimap) are collaborating to construct greenhouses to produce Harum Manis mangoes all year round in Perlis.
Besides Harum Manis the project, with an investment of RM21 million, involves growing Indian Red mangoes in greenhouses using an automatic fertigation system to produce high-quality fruits.
It will utilise 50 acres (20.2 ha.) of land belonging to Unimap around Padang Besar.
“Malaysia has many types of mangoes but we want to find a niche and a product of high quality, and the Harum Manis mango has a very nice texture, smell and excellent taste.
“The mango is Perlis’ unique delicacy and is best produced in the state due to its soils and climate suitability,” Managing Director of JPB Asia Pacific, Mazri Mansor, told Bernama recently.
“Unimap has done very good research on Harum Manis which has not yet been commercialised, and we are going to use it to bring the mango to world market level,” he added.
JPB will also invite farmers from Japan to assist them in mango planting as mango is a high-value and exotic fruit in Japan where the price can be as high as RM400 (USD111) for two fruits.
“The project will also have a multiplier effect on the state’s economy as it will involve farmers and local people in contract farming, and it’s not impossible for the initial investment of RM20 million (USD 5.52 million) to grow to RM100 million (USD 27.62 million) in five years,” Mazri added.
For a start JPB will train 10 Unimap students in contract farming and will send six of them to Japan for training in modern farming techniques.
These highly trained students will then open their own farm under contract farming and JPB will buy back the produce for export and help them with grading and packaging.
Source: Bernama