SERDANG, Jan 13 — Musang King cultivation is expected to grow by 50 per cent in the next two years from 36 per cent presently to meet high demand from countries like China and increase the earnings of durian farmers.
A survey has shown there are 1.576 million durian trees in peninsular Malaysia, with Musang King trees totalling 569,000.
Aside from opening up new area for growing durian, Musang King should become the dominant variety through a grafting exercise using existing Durian Kampung trees as rootstock, said Agriculture Director-General, Mohd Nasir Warris, at a media meet today
“Sub-standard durian trees, if they’re still healthy, can produce Musang King fruit in three years through this technique.
“So in the coming years, we will see a decrease in Durian Kampung and more Musang King,” said Mohd Nasir.
He said farmers who are interested in growing Musang King farming will be assisted for authenticity control because trees do not grow true to seed.
“Musang King can’t be propagated from seed. A tree that is not the variety you want will emerge.
“So to produce the right variety, bud grafting is done. In this way you achieve the intended objective,” he said. — Bernama
