Destroying Harumanis by burning inappropriate: Perlis agriculture director

KANGAR: The Perlis Agriculture Department has expressed regrets over the action by a Harumanis farm owner in burning the fruit, claiming that the fruits were damaged due to the glut and poor demand for the mango.
Its director, Zulkifli Amin Mat Jusoh, described the action as inappropriate, adding that if there was a glut, there were other ways to address the problem, like processing the fruits into juice or cordial drink for sale.
He said there was indeed a drop in the demand for Harumanis and attributed it to the fasting month.
"The peak harvesting period falls during the fasting month when people are not keen enough to buy the fruit," he said when contacted by Bernama.
He said this in response to a front page story of a tabloid today with the title "Petani Perlis Bakar Harumanis, Harga Jatuh Mendadak" ("Perlis Farmer Burns Harumanis, Price Drops Drastically").

Zulkifli Amin said the department did not see the glut in harumanis production as a problem, and would continue to help the commercial farmers to market their harvest.
"The over-ripe or lower qualit fruits will be sold to downstream operators to make ice-cream and cordial drinks, instead of throwing away or burning the fruit," he added.
He also attributed the lesser demand for the Harumanis to some quarters selling poor quality fruit, as well as those that are still not mature, for quick profits. — Bernama