Pengerang: The decision to quit his job as a welding engineer to pursue his interest in the field of agriculture has proven to be lucrative for Roslee Ismail, 51.
Roslee, who operates a pineapple farm in Kampung Lepau, Pengerang in Kota Tinggi, said he knew he wanted to try his hand at growing pineapples after looking at pineapple plantations each time he returned to his hometown.
“Prior to this, I was working at a private company in Selangor and every time I returned to my village in Kota Tinggi, I saw many people cultivating pineapples. From there, I had the desire to do the same in my hometown,” he told Bernama here recently.
Roslee said in 2006, the Village Security and Development Committee (JKKK) agreed to lease some 8.09 hectares (20 acres) of land in Kampung Lepau to him, and since then, he cultivated several pineapple varieties such as the M36, Morris, Crystal Honey and Josaphine, before completely focusing on the MD2 variety due to high demand in the market.
“With a capital of about RM100,000, I started cultivating pineapples by hiring workers to work on it for an 18-month cycle,” said Roslee, who holds a Certificate in Welding Technology from the Youth Skills Institute.
At the initial stage, Roslee was faced with many challenges, including failing to obtain land at the Agriculture Department’s Permanent Food Production Park (TKPM) due to strong competition from others.
“After 18 months, my attempt to cultivate pineapples was successful and at the same time, there were several pineapple farmers in the TKPM project who have failed.
“So, the Agriculture Department offered me 20 acres of land and after the cycle completed, they offered me another 20 acres of TKPM land. Now, I have a total of 40 acres of land to cultivate the crop,” he added.
Roslee, who moved to TKPM farm in 2009, was ecstatic and content to see his agriculture produce receive high demand from the public and decided to leave his welding engineer job to concentrate fully on his farm in the same year.
He was even happier when the Malaysian Pineapple Industry Board (LPNM) also offered him an MD2 seeds loan worth RM100,000 in 2013 to intensify his efforts to grow the pineapple variety and meet the high demand in the domestic and export markets.
“In a week, we are able to produce 200 MD2 pineapples with an average sales of RM3 per fruit which is equivalent to RM6,000 a week. With the RM2 subsidy provided by LPNM, farmers only need to bear the cost of RM1 per fruit and earn a net profit of RM4,000 a week,” he explained.
According to LPNM’s record, Johor is the largest pineapple producer followed by Sarawak, Sabah and Kedah.
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