By Mohamad Harith Mohamad Nizar
IPOH, June 27 (Bernama) -- A participant of the People’s Income Initiative-Agro-Entrepreneur (IPR-INTAN) has proven that what you reap, you shall sow after successfully harvesting his first batch of chilli and eggplant crops, earning up to RM450,000.
Mohd Helmy Mazli, 40, who operates a fertigation farm in Ulu Kinta, said he planted 40,000 polybags of chilli and 20,000 polybags of eggplant throughout the first season of farming from January to March.
He said from March to May, his workers managed to harvest 60 metric tonnes of chillies and 55 metric tonnes of eggplants.
According to him, yields of the first season were sold out as soon as they were harvested.
“Through the sales I managed to pay salaries to 30 workers including contributions to the Employees Provident Fund (EPF) and Social Security Organisation (Perkeso) every month,” he told Bernama recently.
IPR is an initiative under the Economy Ministry encompassing INTAN, Food Entrepreneur Initiative (INSAN), and Service Operator Initiative (IKHSAN) and was launched on Feb 26, 2023, as part of the efforts to increase the people’s income in line with the rising cost of living.
Mohd Helmy said he started working on the farm on land leased from Tanjung Rambutan Hospital in September last year, with an initial grant of RM1.86 million from the government, which was spent on infrastructure and crops.
“I have to use my own money to cover operating expenses. Money generated from the sales of the yields will be used to pay operating costs for the next season,” he said, adding that he is leasing the land for three years.
Mohd Helmy said they are preparing to resume farming on July 1, adding that it will take 75 days before they can start harvesting.
“For July, we are concentrating on chillies, totalling 60,000 polybags…we are not planting eggplants because chillies have more demands,” he said, adding that the second season crop is expected to be ready for harvest by the end of September.
-- BERNAMA
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