Durian Farmer

Aril tip burn, or sometimes referred to as burnt seed, is a condition whereby a part of the durian flesh turned brown in colour.

This can resemble the aftermath of a worm attack. But it is not, and more benign than an infestation.

The simple evidence is that people often still consume parts of a pulp with aril tip burn where they appear fine. But no one would eat an infested pulp.

Aril tip burn is caused by a problem with too much or too little nutrition.

A lot of factors go into what caused the issue in the first place and is not necessarily the fault of a farmer’s neglect. However, it would be the farmer’s job to investigate what went wrong and rectify the problem before the bulk of the harvest gets affected. read more

For someone who is new to the durian farming profession, it is so easy to underestimate the value of proper fertilization.

After all durians have grown very well on their own in the wild jungles for centuries. And there is still a huge number of farming old-timers who don’t prioritize fertilization as part of their protocol for tree-caring.

Let’s not misrepresent anything here.

Durian trees can very well grow into adult trees and bear fruit for harvest without much intervention from farmers. But constant care will be absolutely required if you want consistently high quality fruits and bountiful harvests. read more

The distance between each tree plays a crucial role in the overall business model of a durian farm.

This factor is one of the first decisions a land owner needs to make so that all following decisions can be made based on this information.

The industry practice for describing the spacing between trees is usually stated as a number in footage times a number in footage.

For example, if the distance between each tree is 50 feet, then it would be stated as 50×50.

This methodology of presenting this information assumes that the plantation has trees planted in a grid arrangement. And each tree on the front, back, left and right are spaced apart by the number of feet mentioned. read more

It is true that durian tree requires a lot of tender loving care for it to bare bountiful fruits that end up in the hands of the consumers.

But I can also understand where consumers are coming from when they reject the notion that the trees will still grow fruits without as much care as farmers give them.

Consumers want to the best bang for their buck.

From the farmers’ perspective, having trees grow fruit is not enough from a business standpoint. It might actually be counter-productive and incur opportunity cost. Reducing revenue that can be used to further improve the plantation. read more

If consumers are asked to describe the durian fruit, many would likely use generic terms such as round green husk, a lot of thorns, yellow flesh, etc.

But at the cultivation level, these simple terms are too generic to be meaningful to farmers.

Imagine asking a colleague in the evening “So how does the musang kings look today?”. And he replies with “They look green with a lot of thorns”.

This response might seem like satire to anyone.

While being able to describe durians in a more detailed manner might not provide much benefits to consumers, meticulous descriptions can help growers to not just monitor the development of their fruits and trees, but also take appropriate action to resolve issues before they become real problems. read more