KUCHING Monday, 28 Sep 2020
Malaysia’s pepper production is expected to drop by between 10% and 20% this year due mainly to poor farm maintenance.
Malaysian Pepper Board (MPB) director-general Stanley Liew anticipates the country’s 2020 production volume to fall to about 30,000 tonnes from between the 34,000 and 35,000 tonnes a year recorded previously.
“The lower production volume is because of poor farm maintenance.
“If you do not fertilise your pepper vines, this will affect productivity (yield) and the berries will not be good, ” he told StarBiz.
Pepper farmers in Sarawak, who contribute more than 95% of Malaysia’s production output, are currently into the tail-end of harvesting their new crop.
Also producing pepper are Johor and Sabah.
The harvesting activities, according to Liew, has been delayed this year due to the enforcement of the movement control order (MCO) to contain the spread of the Covid-19 pandemic in Malaysia.
Smallholders are reported to have reduced fertiliser input for their pepper gardens due to the prolonged depressed global pepper prices.
Kuching Grade 1 white pepper plunged to a recent low of about RM13,500 per tonne from a historical high of RM50,000 per tonne in 2016, while Grade 1 black pepper was down to RM7,500 per tonne from an all-time high of RM30,000 per tonne.
However, the prices have since recovered to RM14,700 per tonne for white pepper and RM8,250 per tonne for black pepper due to increasing demand.
The MPB, according to Liew, is paying about RM10 per kg (RM1,000 per tonne) ex-farm to purchase special grade black pepper from the planters.
Liew attributed the rebound in domestic prices to a recovery in the global market due to increased buying activities post-MCO.
To help smallholder pepper farmers, the government has approved RM16.11mil under its stimulus package for farm maintenance support.
The aid is disbursed via vouchers to farmers to buy fertiliser and farm tools.
Liew said the MPB is in the midst of distributing the vouchers nationwide to eligible farmers who together own about 5,370ha of pepper gardens.
To boost new planting, he said, MPB provides subsidies of RM26,000 per ha for two years to help smallholders to expand their farms.
Last year, the subsidy was for the establishment of 350ha of new planting, and for 2020, it is for 115ha.
“We encourage investors to venture into large-scale pepper planting.
“There are now two potential investors, including one from Japan, who are in several rounds of serious discussions on commercial planting with the pepper board, ” said Liew.
He said the MPB is currently drafting licensing and enforcement regulations to regulate, among others, the import and export of pepper to check abuse by unscrupulous businessmen.
“We will be guided by the Federal Attorney General Chamber in the draft of the licensing and enforcement regulations which only require the approval of the Plantation Industries and Commodities Minister as stipulated in the Malaysian Pepper Board Act 656. We are proposing penalties for the offenders, ” he added.
With gazetting expected early next year, the new regulations make it compulsory for companies to obtain a licence and report the import or export volumes of pepper and related matters to the MPB.
Sarawak Deputy Chief Minister and Minister of Modernisation of Agriculture, Native Land and Regional Development Datuk Amar Douglos Uggah Embas claimed last week that there were some unscrupulous traders who have of late been importing pepper from Vietnam and Indonesia and mixing them with the Sarawak Pepper brand and selling them as premium pepper for higher profits.
Uggah asked the MPB to be stringent to check such malpractices to ensure Sarawak Pepper remains a premium product.
Sarawak Pepper is known for its high quality globally and commands a premium price. There are a dozen pepper exporters in Sarawak.
Liew said there were more than 40 pepper agropreneurs in Sarawak who were involved in downstream activities, such as producing pepper powder, pepper packets as well as pepper soap and hand sanitisers.
Some of these value-added products are for the export market.
by JACK WONG
For https://www.thestar.com.my
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