National Durian Vol. 23

Choo Yeong Haur, who is involved in durian planting, also takes care of the fruit harvesting business. HIs scope of work is mainly based in Tras, Pahang, where the orchards are located. Having been in the durian cultivation orchard for a long time, he has a deep understanding of how destructive the Diaspididae is to the local area. “Diaspididae began to attack the durians in Tras two years ago. In a short period of time, every orchard was damaged by this insect, causing leaves to fall off, branches to be bare and the process of photosynthesis to be greatly affected,” he explained. Choo Yeong Haur observed that when the Diaspididae infests durian trees, it mainly targets the leaves. Traces of the pest could be seen on almost every leaf. “The…

Some durian farmers can achieve stable and continuous durian production even during bad weather.Many farmers desperately want to know the secret behind this success. Let’s take a look at Yap Woei Bin from Tras, Pahang. Yap Woei Bin managed to achieve fruitful harvests for at least 3 seasons in 2022 alone during the continuous rains in various parts of Malaysia. Due to the continuous production for an extended time, Yap Woei Bin sold his Musang King durians for RM115 per kilogram at his orchard. This was during the period of time when there was a high demand in the market yet durian production was low in 2022. When our team interviewed him in December 2022, both his large and small durian trees produced bountiful fruits and were very productive. “Most…

There are more than 20 Tekka trees in his orchard and each tree is full of fruits. Based on our visual inspection, each tree had around 200 to 300 fruits. “Tekka is a durian variety that is rarely cultivated. Sometimes, farmers have to patiently wait 2 or 3 years for a durian season for Tekka trees. Therefore, Tekka is becoming less common nowadays because of the low production volume. It means that there is no economic benefit to the farmers. As such, it is understandable if farmers choose to remove Tekka trees since durian trees are required to bear fruits every year,” Thai Tzeh Min said. Thai Tzeh Min believes that the Tekka durian variety has a unique texture and taste. Moreover, it is one of the varieties that durian…

One of the characteristics that defines life is its capability of reproduction. That encompasses all living beings, to ensure the survival of their genes. In nature, living beings could produce either sexually or asexually or both. Sexual reproductions involve two opposite sexes, usually of the same species that contribute their genes in the form of eggs and sperm cells, through fusion, to produce offspring with different genetic makeups, which means that each of the descendants varies genetically from another (unless they all came from the same fertilized egg that splits to give rise to identical multiples such as identical twins or triplets). They are also genetically distinguishable from their parents as they are the products of their genetic mixtures. Asexual reproductions, however, do not entail opposite sexual donors and offspring…

In the era of ever popular durian, everyone is manically investing into durian planting, progressively in the past 5-6 years. This situation not only happened in Malaysia but also in Thailand, Vietnam, Myanmar, Indonesia, Cambodia and other countries. As for Thailand the top durian producer, their investment in durians is constantly increasing. It is said that about 10,000 new durian trees are planted every day – pretty fast pace. Their output has also increased from 630,000 tons (year 2017) five years ago to an annual output of 730,000 tons (year 2022). Thailand is expected to produce more than 750,000 tons of durian in year 2023. According to local durian exporters, the price of Golden Pillow is still increasing even though production continues to increase. The main reason being 90% of…