A Visit Jackfruit Growing Area, Pahang Malaysia

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.

Jackfruit plantation in Malaysia

A commercial jackfruit growing areas

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

Technical discussions between researchers and farmers

A well maintained jackfruits farm

A four-year old jackfruit can bear fruits 10-12 fruits each weighs 15 kg

Insects attack jackfruits tree (pin hole insect)

A four-year old attacked by bacteria 

Harvesting jackfruits , some weigh up to 20kgs

Malaysian jackfruits

How jackfruits is opened 

Jacfruits have many seeds with pulp -sweet smelling and aromatic

Jackfruits are wrapped when they are small to prevent from insect attack or damage

One of the commercial clones-J29 clone

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.

Jackfruits Growing in Malaysia

Jackfruits Growing in Malaysia

Jackfruit has traditionally remained a minor and less important fruit crop in the 1970s and 1980s. Its hectarage has increased from 3,133 ha in 2005 to 3,559 ha. in 2010 with the production of 17,624 m.t to 19,516 m.t., respectively. The steady increase has been attributed to several factors such as improved cultural management, varietal selection, post harvest handling, new market outlets and government initiatives. With the recent Economic Transformation Programme (ETP), Agriculture National Key Economic Areas (NKEA) and Entry Point Projects (EPPs) that the govenment aims to double agriculture sector’s contribution to gross national income (GNI) and upgrading capabilities to produce fruits for premium markets, respectively. At this juncture jackfruits has become one of the important fruits in the Entry Point Projects (EPP) besides, papaya (Eksotika), pineapple(MD2), rockmelons(KR ), starfruits (B10) and banana (Cavendish). 

Jackfruits or Nangka is grown in large scale in Malaysia. Most of the plantations are found in  Taman Kekal Makanan Negara or  National Permanent  Food  Sites   

Jackfruits pulps are marketed in  minimally processed fruits packed in polystrene containers easy to be eaten and consumed. It could be boxed and sent to any destinations air-freighted anywhere in the world. 

Jacfruits are the biggest fruit in the world. The  pulp is very sweet, aromatic and  crunchy.Many varieties are planted in Malaysia.

Early research in jackfruits showed that most emphasis were focussed on pests and disease control (Sariah, 1999), varietal selection (Palaniappan and Ting Fui, 2001) and recently minimally process studies in post harvest (Latifah, 2007). Earlier, Abd Razak and Zainal Abidin (2001) suggested that marketing of fresh fruits

as minimally processed or processed products should be made on the basis when venturing into new markets.

All enquires can be emailed  to me at  zainudinhaji@gmail.com

Bahasa Malaysia translation

Penanaman nangka menjadi tanaman tradisional dan kurang penting pada tahun 1970 dan 1980. Pada akhir-akhir ini keluasan penanaman nangka telah berkembang dari 3,133 hektar pada 2005 ke 3,559 hektar pada tahun 2010 dimana pengeluran telah meningkat dari 17,624 metrik ton ke 19,516 metrik ton. Peningkatan keluasan tersebut telah sebabkan oleh beberapa faktor diantaranya pengurusan yang baik, pemilihan varieti yang terpilih, pengendalian lepas tuai, pasaran baru dan pembukaan kawasan-kawasan baru. Pada dasarnya kerajaan telah  mensasarkan pengeluaran makanan negara ke dua kali ganda melalui melalui Program Transformasi Ekonomi (GTP)  dan  EPP. Salah satu daripada lapan  tanaman seperti betik, jambu batu, belimbing, pisang, rockmelon,  nangka telah terpilih di dalam program ini. Kajian awal di dalam penanaman nangka banyak tertumpu kepada pengawalan penyakit. Selain itu, kajian penanaman varieti-varieti yang sesuai dan kajian proses minima didalam lepas tuai.