JOHOR BARU: Malaysia has set the target to have some 20,000ha of pineapple plantations by this year, says Malaysian Pineapple Industry Board (MPIB) chairman Sheikh Umar Bagharib Ali.
Sheikh Umar Bagharib said in achieving the goal, the board would focus on expanding pineapple plantation areas in East Malaysia.
"Currently, there are some 17,000ha of pineapple plantation area nationwide. By expanding the area by another 3,000ha, we will be able to achieve our strategic plan to have 20,000ha of plantation area for the fruit by 2025.
"Among our focuses in expanding the plantation area is to develop more pineapple farms in Sabah and Sarawak as the two states have high potential in terms of land for agricultural use," he said in a statement here.
He added that MPIB also wants to increase the production of pineapple from 583,543 metric tonnes currently to 700,000 metric tonnes.
"This is in line with the target that has been set by the Agriculture and Food Security Ministry.
"We will focus on the adaptation of technology and automation as we work towards increasing production.
"A new SG1 variety from Sarawak will also be introduced to Peninsular Malaysia this March. The new variety will be a game changer as it can be harvested after just nine months," he said.
He said that the board also aims to export an additional 200,000 containers of pineapples to other countries.
"Currently, we are only able to export 800 containers of pineapples to several countries, which are China, Korea, Japan, Germany, as well as the Middle East.
"We hope to be able to export an additional 200 containers this year so that we can fulfil the target given by the Agriculture and Food Security Minister to export a total of 1,000 containers of pineapples this year," he said.
He said that MBIP also wants to increase the value of pineapple trees to RM50 per tree from an average of between RM20 and RM30 per tree currently.
"This is in line with the suggestion made by the Agriculture Ministry in 2017 of making pineapple a new source of richness for farmers," he said.
