SITIAWAN, Feb 3 — He was a high flyer in the political arena.
From being the Perak MCA youth chief to the Finance Minister’s special officer, Ting Tai Fook was all that until the 14th general election which saw Barisan Nasional losing for the first time in the country’s history.
During the first few months post-election, Ting went through different jobs including as petition writer and consultant on government affairs just to make ends meet.
Then, he took a leap of faith into the world of agriculture.
Pineapple farming to be precise.
“When I was attached with the Finance Ministry, I saw there was great potential in the sector,” said 35-year-old, adding that his views were also shared by the minister, who was then the prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak.
“When presenting the budget, he would emphasise on the importance of looking for new wealth resources,” said Ting.
Nowadays, he finds pineapple farming tiring but satisfying.
His day runs from 8am to 6.30pm daily, including Sundays and public holidays.
“As the business has just started, we can only depend on ourselves to tend to the farms,” he said, adding that among his duties were to spray fertilisers or pesticides, check on the fruits, remove rotten ones and harvesting.
“It is good for the body as I am sweating a lot now and that helps me to keep fit compared to previously where I only sit in air-conditioned rooms and seldom exercise,” added Ting.
Together with 12 others, Ting’s company — Manjung Naluri Sdn Bhd — is starting to make waves.
The group began planting pineapples in 2018 and the business has since grown by leaps and bounds.
Ting said they had initially wanted to plant coconuts.
“But as the land lease we got was too short to plant the crop, we decided to plant pineapples instead,” he told Malay Mail when met at their farm in Kampung Selamat here, adding that the pineapple variant chosen was the hybrid MD2.
It is touted to be the sweetest of all pineapple varieties.
Starting with just 1.6ha, the company has now expanded to planting more MD2 pineapples as demands increased since they started in October 2018.
Ting, who is the adviser to Manjung Naluri, said the company currently tops in the plantation of MD2 in Perak with 187,000 trees.
“Besides Sitiawan, MD2 is also planted in Gerik, Perak Tengah, Kampar, Lenggong, Gopeng and Tanjung Malim,” he added, noting that Gopeng was the second biggest producer with 150,000 trees.
Manjung Naluri’s success was surprising as none of its team members are graduates in agriculture.
“We learn as we move along,” Ting said, adding that they also underwent courses organised by Agriculture and Agro-Based Ministry on pineapple planting.
The first batch of MD2 pineapples, marketed under the brand name MGROW, consisting of nearly 5,000 pieces or 9.5 tonnes of fruit, were harvested in November last year.
Ting said each fruit weighs an average of two kilogrammes.
“It can fetch between RM6 and RM8 per kg,” he said.
Among the positive points of MD2 pineapples are there are no thorns on its leaves and it is in cylinder size, which adds to its aesthetic value.
On its taste, Ting said it does not cause that burning sensation on your tongue and the roof of your mouth.
“There is also no fibre,” he added, noting that MD2 is known for its high nutrition value.
With the high demand for the fruit, especially for the export market, Ting said the company had expanded to Simpang Tiga, Lekir and Changkat Kruing.
Looking ahead, the company will be expanding by adding value to the fruit.
“We are planning to have a processing factory,” he said, adding that the target to set up the factory had been fixed for the first quarter of 2020.
“We are currently scouting for machineries needed for the factory,” he added.
Those interested to learn more about MGROW pineapples or Manjung Naluri can search for MGROW in Facebook.
