Strawberry fieldsBy Wong Li Za
9 Nov 2009Tart or sweet, strawberries will be plentiful now that Cameron Highlands has come under the Satu Daerah, Satu Industri programme.
CAMERON Highlands' appeal lies in its tea plant terraces, cool air and fresh produce. Each year, an estimated five million tourists flock to the highlands in Pahang, which is the only area in the country with commercial strawberry farms.
Unfortunately, many people's impression of Cameron Highlands strawberries is that they are "small and sour" – at least those were my childhood memories of the fruit. However, with research and development, bigger and less sour strawberries have since been cultivated. This year, Cameron Highlands and its strawberry industry were listed under the Agriculture and Agro-based Industries Ministry's Satu Daerah, Satu Industri (One District, One Industry) programme.
Nature's bounty: The Chandler, Camarosa, Sweet Charlie and Akihime varieties of strawberries at EQ Strawberry Farm in Brinchang, Cameron Highlands.
Recent years have also seen vegetable farmers switching to strawberries due to better demand and stable prices.
Graduating smack in the 1985 recession was a dampener for Lawrence Wong, who obtained an electrical and electronic engineering degree from the Federal Institute of Technology Kuala Lumpur.
The then 21-year-old Wong decided to go home to Cameron Highlands and temporarily help out at his parents' 0.6ha vegetable and flower farm.
Wong never returned to Kuala Lumpur and today, he is an innovative and successful strawberry farmer and entrepreneur at EQ Farm in Brinchang. He switched to planting strawberries in 2003 because of fluctuating vegetable prices and was the first to offer pluck-your-own strawberries activity for tourists in the same year. Visitors can pluck a minimum half kg of strawberries by paying a fee of RM15 to RM20, depending on the season.
"These days, it's difficult to tell when the strong growth season is because the weather is so unpredictable. Last year, there was a period when it rained for four months and that greatly affected our yield," says Wong, 45, adding that strawberries need sunlight and have to be shielded from rainfall.
Strawberry-based treats from Raju Hills Strawberry Farm.
A new plant bears fruit after three months, after which it has a turnaround period of one month before the next harvest, he adds.
Sweet note
As we walk among the neat rows of two-tiered strawberry plants, Wong lets us sample each of the three main varieties – the Chandler from The Netherlands, the Camarosa from the United States, and Sweet Charlie from Eqypt. Although some of them still tasted sourish, many were indeed sweet.
Recently, Wong also started growing the Akihime variety from Japan which is longish in shape and can grow to a good size. Just 12 pieces weigh about half a kg.
What is unique about this variety is that it has a sweetness level (brix level) of at least 14, according to Wong. (For comparison, the brix level of grapes and oranges can go up to 20.) We lost no time in sampling one. It was sweeter and had a pleasant whiff of vanilla to it as we took a bite.
Two years ago, Wong started using an alkaline material fertiliser imported from Japan. Costing RM7,000 per tonne, the natural fertiliser is made from ash and silicon material.
"With this fertiliser, the strawberries turn out sweeter and bigger. It also tends to restore the plant strength to that of the first harvest," says Wong, adding that the fertiliser raises the brix level of strawberries from an initial seven to nine, to 10 or 11.
Quality control: Lawrence Wong checking the strawberries at EQ Strawberry Farm.
Wong uses the drip irrigation system of cultivation and mixes soil with mushroom sawdust and coconut husk or coco peat. He also grows organic oyster mushrooms and pearl corn, a sweet corn variety from Taiwan.
"The mushroom sawdust contains alkaline material in it. Combined with the alkaline fertiliser, any worms in the soil will die off due to the alkaline environment," says Wong, who uses a bio-organism for pest control and fungicide to prevent moulding of the fruit.
Besides taking pride in being pesticide-free, Wong also uses a technology called Sonic Bloom plant music in his farm. The music is piped in to the farm every morning for one hour via strategically-placed speakers. A product from the United States, Sonic Bloom is natural sounds of the forest and is believed to help plants grow healthier, faster and produce higher yields.
Wong sells his strawberries at RM40 a kg, which is higher than some of the other farms but he has no problems with demand due to the quality of the fruits.
Due to limited land, Wong only supplies fresh strawberries to tourists at his centre and to local cake shops in and around Cameron Highlands. Besides fresh strawberries, the farm also produces preservative-free strawberry jams, with no added sugar or less sugar, on-site. Each kg of strawberries makes two to three jars of jam.
Strawberries and strawberry-based products including jam, enzyme and ice-cream potong sold at his farm.
Other products include strawberry ice-cream potong (ice-sticks), fresh strawberry juice, strawberry enzyme, strawberry salad, and desserts.
In future, Wong hopes to implement Japanese techniques of organic farming and obtain more Japanese varieties. "The importance is in the technique of growing the strawberries. My aim is to achieve the Japanese standard of growth."
Local attraction
Strawberry grower Selvaraj Veerappan will be the first to admit that tending a strawberry farm is hard work.
The price of fertilisers has doubled, yield is affected by the weather and leaves need to be pruned constantly to ensure healthy fruits.
"It's not easy to grow strawberries. It's a lot of hard work to maintain the farm and the plants," says Selvaraj, 51, owner of Raju Hills Strawberry Farm in Brinchang.
He employs nine workers at his farm, which has been around since 1945. The 1.2ha plot was initially tended by Selvaraj's father, who grew vegetables.
In 1995, Selvaraj, who leased the land from the state government, switched to growing strawberries.
"Demand is tourist-driven and not dependent on wholesaler prices, which can be unstable and low," he says. "Besides, not everybody can afford to go overseas to visit strawberries so our farm is something special for locals."
Selvaraj grows the Festival variety of strawberries from The Netherlands. He admits that the variety is a little sour but sturdier. "Even those in The Netherlands are sour too," he says, adding that strawberries thrive in temperatures of between 15° and 25°C.
The main harvest period is in September but Selvaraj says there are not many tourists during that time. On the other hand, the year-end school holiday period is usually the rainy season, which affects yield.
During harvest season, the farm produces between 50kg and 100kg a day, for up to 25 days. After each harvest, the following two months will only see a yield of 10kg to 15kg a day. Annually, the farm produces about three tonnes of strawberries which are sold at around RM25 per kg.
Each plant lasts about three years, with the first year giving the highest yield.
Selvaraj uses the drip irrigation system and coconut husks to grow the strawberries. He also applies chemical fertilisers and pesticides. According to Selvaraj, the plants need six sets of fertilisers a month, each set costing RM650.
"The price of fertilisers doubled five years ago. However, growing the plants above ground reduces the need for pesticides by up to 80% and is also easier on the workers when harvesting the fruits," he says.
Besides fresh fruits, Selvaraj also produces strawberry jam, strawberry marmalade, ice-cream, milkshake, cakes and jam tarts. All the fresh strawberries and strawberry products are only sold at the farm.
Selvaraj is not too keen on letting visitors pluck their own strawberries because he says children tend to damage the plants.
"If you do not pluck the fruit but just happen to touch it lightly, it will grow fungus the next day. We must be careful to pluck it off by the stalk," says Selvaraj, who only keeps three rows of plants open for tourists.
Higher yield
According to the Agriculture Department's 2008 records, Cameron Highlands produces RM60mil to RM70mil worth of fresh strawberries a year. (However, there are farmers who claim this figure is over-estimated.)
There are 52 strawberry growers in Cameron Highlands with a combined area of growth spanning 30ha. The department also estimates that the farmers produce RM12mil to RM18mil worth of strawberry-based products a year.
The Agriculture and Agro-based Industries Ministry first introduced the Satu Daerah, Satu Industri programme in 2002. The aim of SDSI is to boost the commercial development of products and services unique to a district to attract tourists to the area.
This year, Cameron Highlands is one of the areas to come under the SDSI project under the purview of the Agriculture Department. The other areas are Sepang in Selangor, for tapioca, and Hilir Perak for coconut. The programme's objectives include making Cameron Highlands the main producer and exporter of strawberries in the country; increasing the quality of strawberries and strawberry-based products; increasing the average income of growers; and making the strawberry industry the main agro-tourism product in Cameron Highlands.
One of the participating farms under the programme is KHM Farm located in Tanah Rata. The 10-year-old farm works closely with the Malaysian Agricultural Research and Development Institute (Mardi). KHM rents a 2.4ha farm area, spread out over several locations, from Mardi. The farm also has free access to Mardi's food processing facilities and receives marketing support via the Federal Agricultural Marketing Authority (Fama).
It produces six strawberry-based products – jam (its bestseller), ice-cream, acar (pickle), cordial, chutney and dried strawberries.
KHM holds joint research work with Mardi and one of the projects involved the implementation of the cold chain system four years ago. The system helps prolong the freshness of the strawberries.
"After plucking the strawberries by breaking at the stalk without touching the fruit, they are sent to a chiller initially set at 3°C for 24 hours," says Khairani Mohd, owner of KHM. adding that the temperature is gradually brought up to 7°C.
The strawberries are then transported by road at a temperature of 15°C and once they reach the supermarkets, kept at 8°C to keep the fruits fresh for two weeks, or at 6°C to keep them for four weeks.
The strawberry varieties at KHM are Camarosa, Chandler, Elsanta, Diamante, Aromas and Festival. The brix level of these strawberries is eight to nine, which is still a little sour.
"In Holland (The Netherlands), most of the strawberries have a brix level of only six because of lack of sunlight. Therefore, Malaysia is in a good position to produce strawberries." says Khairani, 52.
Thrips and mites pose the main threats to the strawberry plants, says Khairani, and the farm uses pesticide and predator mites to counter the problem. Khairani also uses a chemical fertiliser called fertigation fertiliser, made up of coconut husks and perlite.
"The main factors for healthy strawberries are good pest management and limited use of chemicals. It is also important to have traceability of the fruits for safety purposes."
According to Khairani, a 10,000-plant farm can generate income of between RM5,000 and RM8,000 a month. He adds that there are nine big players in Cameron Highlands, each covering land areas of 0.8ha and above. One acre (0.4ha) accommodates about 100,000 plants.
Generally, there are three major harvests a year. However, Khairani says KHM has managed to implement a system that induces the fruits to produce off season, culminating in up to seven harvests a year. "We create artificial winter conditions and introduce hormones to induce growth," he says.
On average, KHM Farm's daily output is 200kg, which are sold for between RM20 and RM25 per kg. About 70% of the fresh strawberries are sold to hypermarkets and supermarkets in Malaysia, while the rest are for tourists in Cameron Highlands. -- The Star Lifestyle
