he harumanis variety of mango produced in Perlis is set to break into the Japanese market, with the first shipment of 50 metric tonnes scheduled for next year.
The state executive councillor for agriculture, Sabry Ahmad, said Tuesday Perlis will ensure that the shipments of this "King of Mangoes" will be of the best quality.
He stressed that importing countries like Japan take a serious view on the quality of mangoes and even slight lowering of standards is unacceptable to them and will result in being shut out of their markets.
He was speaking to reporters here after witnessing the signing of a marketing contract between the Federal Agricultural Marketing Authority (FAMA) and farmers in the Chuping project which produces the sala variety of mangoes.
Sabry, pointing out that the harumanis is very popular in Malaysia because of its deliciousness, said this variety's season for this year is expected to begin before end-April and last until August.
"We estimate the production of harumanis at between 200 and 250 metric tonnes with the major producing areas being Bukit Bintang and Paya Kelubi," he added.
On the sala mango marketing contract, Sabry said it is aimed at helping the farmers expand their market with the cooperation of FAMA.
The 84 farmers at the 67.9 ha Chuping project have the capacity to produce 400 metric tonnes of sala mangoes a season valued at about RM150,000.
FAMA deputy director-general Nordin Ahmat said FAMA has set a target to market the sala mangoes from Perlis at a sales value of up to RM1 million.
The Sala Perlis mangoes, according to him, are being sold as far away as Singapore where it has received encouraging response.
He hoped the Chuping farmers will always place priority on quality to ensure that their produce will always be in demand in major supermarkets and hypermarkets like Carrefour, Giant and Tesco.
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