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Malaysian farmers dispose of tonnes of excess vegetables due to Hari Raya holiday

PETALING JAYA - Farmers throughout Malaysia have dumped tonnes of vegetables due to the closure of markets over the long weekend, but they say the situation will be back to normal after the Hari Raya festivities.

Cameron Highlands Vegetable Growers Association deputy president Lau Weng Soow said there was a vegetable surplus in Cameron Highlands three weeks ago and farmers ended up having to throw away vegetables during the long Hari Raya holiday.

“In the past, vegetable farmers discarded excessive produce during the same holiday, but not as much as this time. I estimate that nearly 1,000 tonnes of vegetables were discarded in Cameron alone,” he said.

“If you add the more than 1,000 tonnes of vegetables discarded from the plains, the vegetable farmers would have lost millions of ringgit.”

This is the first time they have done so in large quantities, he said.

Cucumbers, tomatoes, sawi (choy sum) and collard greens were among the vegetables discarded, he added.

“The low demand for vegetables during Ramadan, coupled with the long holiday when many vegetable markets did not open, and with some vendors and merchants still on holiday – that reduced the demand for vegetables considerably,” he said. “Vegetable farmers were forced to destroy vegetables and replant them to meet future market demand.”