CHUPING: The hot and dry weather brought about by the El Nino phenomenon since early this year has caused losses for small-scale fruit and vegetable growers in Perlis and Kedah.
Among those affected by the extreme weather were farmers growing corn, cucumber, mango, pomelo and watermelon.
Farmer Muhd Solihin Mat, 22, said half of the corn plants in his 0.863ha field had failed to produce fruits.
“Usually, we would harvest the corn after 70 days. This time however, even after more than 70 days, half the plants have yet to produce any fruit.
“The stalks and leaves are thin and small. I have been growing corn for about five years and have never encountered such a situation before.
“I think the corn plants’ growth was stunted by the dry spell.”
Solihin said that despite the depressing yield, wholesale prices for grade A corn remained at 50 sen per crop, grade B (30 sen) and grade C (RM20 per 30kg sack).
“There is little demand for corn. Hence, the prices have remained the same despite the situation.”
Azman Zakaria, 44, who grows pomelo and has a stall in Changlun, Kedah, said he was forced to import the fruit from Thailand as his trees had failed to produce enough fruits.
“If I do not import the pomelo fruit from Thailand, I would not have enough fruits to sell at my stall.
“The problem is that, since the value of the ringgit has weakened, the cost to import the fruit has increased, and I am forced to sell the fruits at between RM12 and RM15 each compared with local pomelo, which is priced at between RM8 and RM10 each.
“Apart from that, each pomelo, which usually lasts up to 10 days in normal weather, spoils after only five days now.”
Cucumber farmer Mokhtar Ismail, 53, said he also experienced a decrease in production since February.
“I used to be able to collect about 300kg of cucumber per day from my farm, but in the last two weeks, I could only get about 250kg.
“The growth of the cucumber plants seems to be stunted while their lifespan has been reduced to less than two months.”
Mokhtar said due to the limited supply of cucumber, wholesale prices had increased to RM1.50 per kg from 50 sen and 80 sen per kg previously.
Mokhtar, who also owns a harumanis mango farm, said the production of the aromatic fruit may also be affected this season as many of his plants were experiencing premature falling of its fruits, especially in the past three weeks.
“Some of the harumanis fruits only last for up to two or three weeks.
“I fear that if this situation continues, we may suffer great losses as I do not think the retail price of harumanis can go much higher than the existing RM35 to RM45 per kg.”
As for Mohammad Ridzuan Yusof, 34, who manages a watermelon farm, he said the quality of his watermelons was affected while some of his plants had died earlier this month.
The dry spell has led to a reduction in the production of grade A watermelons by about 60 per cent.”