On March 4,2013 we make a visit to one of the largest jackfruits growing in Malaysia. It is one and half-hour drive from the capital city of Kuala Lumpur. The location of the farm is at annex of KL-East Coast Bound Highway. I have planned to visit this area since last year.Till now I had the opportunity to make the visit after we make some arrangements with officer-in-charge and growers. The area is one of agriculral areas which had been designated to be grown with jackfruits; where 2,000 acres have been planted. Actually, in Malaysia the total acreage is about 10,000 acre by end of 2013.
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| Jackfruit plantation in Malaysia |
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| A commercial jackfruit growing areas |
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| Discussion with jackfruit growers |
I managed to visit two farms only because it was raining heavily. And I also had the chance to meet the growers and discuss some issues related jackfruits growing here. Some of the issues discussed are
a. Farm Management
b. Tree management
c. Fertilization program
d. Disease control
e. Future plans
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| Technical discussions between researchers and farmers |
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| A well maintained jackfruits farm |
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| A four-year old jackfruit can bear fruits 10-12 fruits each weighs 15 kg |
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| Insects attack jackfruits tree (pin hole insect) |
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| A four-year old attacked by bacteria |
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| Harvesting jackfruits , some weigh up to 20kgs |
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| Malaysian jackfruits |
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| How jackfruits is opened |
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| Jacfruits have many seeds with pulp -sweet smelling and aromatic |
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| Jackfruits are wrapped when they are small to prevent from insect attack or damage |
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| One of the commercial clones-J29 clone |
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| J29 clone is orange yellow and sweet but soft. |
We, in Malaysia are actively doing research in this crop particularly it has a very high demand both from overseas and local markets. The main export market is China and the Middle East countries.
Please contact me at zainudinhaji@gmail.com , if you need some infomation.
