Orchard owners in Melaka, especially in Klebang, were today told to be willing to carry out a transformation of their farm management in order to obtain higher yields.

Klebang assemblyman Datuk Lim Ban Hong said the transformation should encompass planting and marketing methods, as well as diversifying products from their farms by using a more modern and sophisticated medium.

“There are still orchard owners who manage their farms in a traditional way. They need to change by using more modern equipment in terms of technology, farming system and the use of machines.

“This will gradually reduce their dependence on foreign workers,” he told reporters after visiting the Chan Agrotech guava orchard in Jalan Setulang Daeng, Kampung Bukit Rambai here today.

He said the transformation was necessary as it would require a lot of energy and manpower to manage an orchard and the current restrictions on the entry of foreign labour would pose a problem.

“I understand that there are still many orchard owners in Klebang and even in other areas are facing a shortage of workers,” he said.

He also encouraged orchard farmers to venture into downstream activities by producing other products from their crop yield as well as to develop their orchards for eco-tourism.

Source: BERNAMA News Agency