JOHOR BAHRU, Aug 20 — The Sarawak Gold 1 (SG1) pineapple is set to have great potential and can be a game-changer in the country’s pineapple industry, said the Malaysian Pineapple Industry Board (LPNM).

Its chairman, Sheikh Umar Bagharib Ali said the SG1 variant was imported from Taiwan to Miri, Sarawak, in December last year, and was officially registered by the Ministry of Agriculture.

He said the initial period for SG1 pineapple trees to be planted until harvesting only took about nine months, based on trial-planting results in Miri.

“This situation proves that the turnover rate of SG1 pineapple plants (recovering rate) is faster than other pineapples. For example, MD2 pineapple needs 14 to 16 months while Moris pineapple needs 12 months.

“This shows that SG1 pineapple is able to speed up and increase the income of pineapple farmers who previously had to wait for the harvesting period from once every two years to once every year,” he said in a statement today.

Sheikh Umar, however, said that some intensive studies still need to be done especially in LPNM’s plan to bring in SG1 to Peninsular Malaysia since the variant is grown on sandy soil in Miri compared to the usual pineapple grown in peat and mineral soil in Peninsular Malaysia.

He said its golden orange colour and sweet and juicy taste are tempting enough to eat fresh or processed into juice, plus the crunchy pulp can be chewed and swallowed straight away because there is no residual fibre or pulp.

“The ability of SG1 pineapple in the production of various downstream products must also be explored further. This is important to further develop the SG1 pineapple value chain,” he said.

Yesterday, Sheikh Umar and the LPNM management staff had a working visit to TG Agro Fruits Sdn Bhd’s farm in Sungai Tukau, Miri, which started planting SG1 pineapples in stages on 10 hectares of land near the river for commercialisation plans in 2021.

“From several aspects of yesterday’s observations, I am optimistic about the great potential of this new pineapple variant. I believe SG1 will be a game changer in the pineapple industry in Malaysia,” he said. — Bernama