COCONUT PLANTING IN JOHOR

JOHOR STATE  are among top three state growing coconut (Cocos nucifera) from early decade with Selangor and Perak. The Johor government has encouraged oil palm plantation owners to switch to planting coconut trees to reduce issue of importing the nut from other countries by 30% to 40% in the next three to four years. State Agriculture and Agro-based Industries Committee chairman Dr Sharuddin said that the government has been going all out in encouraging more farmers to plant coconuts, as it is also more profitable (See photo above). “We want to encourage more coconut planting as part of integrated farming, which can rake in up to as high as RM6,000 each month if properly planned. “Farmers can opt to grow black pepper or coffee beans below the coconut tree as well as bee-keeping for honey harvesting for an optimum use of land,” he told reporters after visit Coconut Station at Jorak, Pagoh, Muar. Minister of Agriculture, Director General of Agriculture Department and Director General of MPIB attended the visit. He added that to further strengthen the initiative, the government has identified between 8.09 ha and 12.14 ha of land in all district to be utilised for integrated farming. This article in "Anim Agriculture Technology" report from Muar for local farmers.

The government are currently in talks with the land administrator to identify suitable plots of land to be developed into integrated farms, where each farmer, which will include young entrepreneurs, will receive between 0.404ha to 0.809ha of land. Department will also provide the basic infrastructures such as roads and gating and eventually a marketing centre through an allocation of RM50,000 and we hope to realise this initiative by early next year. Dr Sharuddin added noted that promoting integrated farming was part of the government’s effort to lessen import while still fulfilling the demands of the local market. He said that on average, a monthly supply of about 300,000 coconuts would be needed to cater to the demands of the local market and the number could increase by between 500,000 to 700,000 coconuts during festive seasons. “Currently, we have the capacity to supply only about 200,000 coconuts for the state and so we hope that by encouraging more to plant coconut instead of oil palm, we can cut import by 30% to 40%,” he said, adding that coconuts were imported mostly from Indonesia. ThankYou!!..

By,
M Anem,
Senior Agronomist,
Taman Cendana, Bandar Melaka,
Melaka, Malaysia.
(31 August 2018).