KUALA LUMPUR: After a two-year stint in Australia, which included working in a bank, Mazli Mashudi chose to pursue a career in catfish breeding after returning home in 2013.
Perseverance, hard work and patience paid off for Mazli, 39, as his catfish farm, located on a four-hectare site in Sungai Nibong, Sekinchan, has since yielded lucrative returns.
The father of five who hails from Sungai Besar, Selangor, has worked as a fish and chicken seller at the Selayang wholesale market before pivoting his business into catfish farming in 2016.
“My mother Fauziah Jaafar, 66, and my late father Mashudi Wahid, used to run a saltwater prawn farming business in 2012.
“I couldn’t help much as I was still studying and later stayed in boarding school. The blood, sweat and tears that my parents poured into the business inspired me to venture into catfish breeding later.
“I chose to go into catfish breeding over other aquaculture species as it is easily manageable and marketable,” said Mazli, who has worked in Dianella, Perth, in livestock farming, to Bernama recently.
Mazli started his catfish breeding with an initial capital of RM50,000 and of the total, RM20,000 was provided by his parents, to fund a fish pond on a privately-owned land at Kampung Simpang 5, Sungai Besar.
According to Mazli, there are many benefits to freshwater fish farming over cattle or chicken farming, as it has tremendous potential to generate higher revenue.
His farm has the capacity to produce some 100kg of catfish a day.
