Durian also known as the King of Fruit is a local delicacy amongst most of the Southeast Asian countries. A “durian crop production cycle” refers to the sequence of vegetative growth and reproductive development process of the durian trees. The durian season of a particular period is considered complete and over when all fruits are harvested. Durian orchard management also includes many farm activities and the usage of various production materials. Some of the processes include pruning, irrigation, fertilizer applications, pests, and disease control, etc
However, certain problems are faced by the durian plantation, as well as the durian industry, which will be discussed in the section below.
The Department of Agriculture has registered many durian clones since 1934, but only D24 was cultivated on large scales up to 100 acres. Furthermore, the mother tree of D24 originated from the Bukit Merah area in Perak with high annual rainfall. Therefore, D24 trees experienced uneven fruit ripening when being grown in prolonged drought areas like the east coast. Thus, the D24 clone was not adaptive to extend drought and heavy rainfall areas.
In the 70s and 80s, the Department of Agriculture had distributed thousands of durian seedlings to farmers under the Orchard Rehabilitation Program, but very few of these seedlings had survived to maturity. A large percentage of the seedlings died due to poor post-planting care and maintenance. Young seedlings would not survive without frequent irrigation and proper post-planting care. As a result, extensive scale commercial planting of durians was limited to a few agencies like Sime Darby, FELDA, Eden Farm, and Ladang Sin Hock. Due to the low price and domination of the global durian market by Thailand, many of these farms could not survive.
Stem canker disease is the main culprit of the death of many durian trees. The whole orchard can be infected with the disease without proper treatment. So far, there has been no method that can effectively control the disease. D24 clones under humid conditions were prone to stem canker. Leaf blight (Rhizoctonia solani) was also causing severe damage to seedlings and mature trees. Durian trees grown in the mixed orchard are exposed to many pest problems. Apart from seed and fruit borers, squirrels were the leading cause of fruit damage. Squirrel control was difficult because of closely planted fruit trees. In some areas, the damage by squirrels was as severe as 50 % for low fruit season.
Many farmers believe that clonal durians were challenging to manage and preferred to grow kampung varieties that were more resistant to disease, hardy and survive well under adverse conditions. Fruits were of low quality, and fertilizer application by farmers was minimal. With poor agricultural practices, yields were down, and fruit quality was poor. Durian is a perennial crop and takes a long time to reach bearing age. Due to this long juvenile period, the researcher tends to shy away from durian research.
Furthermore, durian was considered a low priority crop for research in the 80s and 90s. Many proposals for research on durian were rejected. As a result, technical support for durian production technology was limited, and farmers typically carried out their trials.
As the demand for Durians has increased massively, the technology of outsourcing Durians has also improved to match the ongoing demands. Which is why we are now going to take a deeper dive to see how far the Technology Advancement in the Durian Industry has gone.
Contributions of Technology towards the Durian Industry
The Blockchain Application
The blockchain application is the technology invented that turns the durians into traceable digital assets under the deal. This technology advancement enabled each durian to be uniquely photographed, tagged, and tracked at each stage of the supply chain. The blockchain platform can work with the supply chain systems to account for and follow all durians in their journey from the farmers’ farms to factories via cold chains and distribution channels to reach their customers. The data is encrypted and loaded onto a blockchain ledger, and this allows the durian exporters and their partners to track the entire durian supply process. This technology’s functions vary from drawing up contracts to monitoring the packing status, having delivery receipts confirmed and receiving customer feedback. In return, it allows the exporters to share the verified documents and data with their partners in a single platform. This action has reduced trade disputes over quality and has also strengthened trust among the customers and suppliers.
Most importantly, the increased transparency of blockchain had provided a solution towards one of the significant issues the fresh fruits industry faced: access to traditional bank finance. More accurate credit assessments can be conducted with the entire supply chain visible on the blockchain, hence expanding financing to more businesses. For example, in Thailand, the biggest fresh durian exporter, Queen Frozen Fruit, has worked with a supply chain technology company over their durian season in 2019 by tagging, tracing, and tracking approximately 4m durians from Thailand to Japan, China, and other countries in Asia. In their opinion, blockchain technology is an excellent solution to quantify and isolate the risks of related trades and be in a stronger position to attribute liability. Besides that, this technology also allows them to confidently provide trade financing to a broader range of quality and profitable businesses, especially those that have traditionally been unable to obtain bank financing.
Cryogenic Freezing
Cryogenic freezing is a relatively new freezing method, such that the fruits and vegetables are exposed to an atmosphere below -60 Degree Celsius via direct contact with liquefied gases such as carbon dioxide or nitrogen. Those two gases are prevalent in our atmospheric air, with a percentage of 0.04% and 78%, respectively.
Recently, local entrepreneurs have found out that a whole fresh durian fruit can be frozen by exposing to liquid nitrogen at -90 Degree Celsius for an hour and the frozen fruit turns out to be able to be stored at -18 Degree Celsius for two years without losing much of its original flavour, flesh colour, texture, and most importantly, taste. Another advantage of cryogenic freezing is the ‘disappearance’ of durian fruit aroma after freezing. However, the unique scent of the durian will then resume after 4 to 5 hours of defrosting, and the durian fruit is ready to be eaten.
As a tropical crop, the production volume of the durians is frequently affected by the weather. In addition to global warming, it is hard to predict the production volume of durian fruits. Since the commodity price depends on the durian’s supply and demand, the cryogenic freezing technology enables producers to preserve the fruits when there exists a surplus in the supply. As such, the durians can be marketed and distributed further, and durian lovers can enjoy the King of Fruits wherever and whenever they want.
Growers who lack bargaining power in the commodity price can now benefit from this technology. Furthermore, the frozen fresh durian fruit is way easier to handle compared to the unfrozen ones. As a result, we hope that the application of cryogenic freezing technology would enable the 800,000 durian farmers and entrepreneurs in Malaysia to remain competitive and sustainable in the fresh durian fruit market.
Conclusion
To end off, we can see that today, the technology used in producing Durian has become more efficient than before. For new Durian planters, it would be suggested to start a small Durian plantation as there are already many retail durian sellers, and with the help of technology advancements maintaining the ranch should not be much of a hassle. Furthermore, the Government should provide incentives to local Durian farmers to depend less on import and more on local goods. Last but not least, technology providers should now work on Durian classification apps as it will also benefit the consumers so that they can identify which Durian is which. As demand for Durian continues to surge, we can expect companies to innovate upon current technology and make it even better than before. So do not worry as there will be plenty of Durian for everyone!
At 27Group, we can assist in your plantation business through strategic business planning and digital transformation strategy which will aimed to reassess your strategic positioning in the industry and derive practical actions plan that will guide your business expansion aspiration by leveraging on the latest digital technologies in agriculture sectors. Speak to us to know more about our insights on how to revamp your plantation business, making it more relevant and updated to the latest business ecosystem.
