| James Kon |
SINCE 2015, United Agri-Fishery Market Sdn Bhd, a company set up by Taiwanese nationals, has invested about $1,000,000 at the Tanah Jambu Agricultural Development Area to produce watermelons, sweet melons and cherry tomatoes for the local market.
The farm sits on a 25.3-hectare site leased from the Department of Agriculture and Agrifood (DAA) and has 20 greenhouses, each 40 metres long.
The farm harvests two varieties of watermelon and sweet melon. Due to limited production, the produce is only available at Warisan Utama Jaya Emporium and Supermarket at Jalan Muara.
Two Taiwanese agriculture experts from United Agri-Fishery Market, Yang Jui-Lin and Bob Hsieh, are in Brunei Darussalam to try to expand the production of the fruits and vegetables.
Watermelons produced on the farm. – PHOTOS: JAMES KON
Sweet melons grown in a greenhouse
Cherry tomato plants in a greenhouse
Recalling their move to invest in Brunei, they said they saw that there was a lot of land here and felt that there was an opportunity for the growth of agriculture in the country.
With the support of the Brunei Economic Development Board (BEDB) and DAA, they set up the farm at Tanah Jambu Agricultural Development area.
Since last year, the farm started producing limited amounts of Taiwanese melons amounting to 500kg per harvest (50 days) and distributed them to supermarkets.
The farm also has to import high quality Taiwanese soil to neutralise the acidic soil found at the farm in order to plant the cherry tomatoes and sweet melons.
With the success of growing Taiwanese watermelons, sweet melons and cherry tomatoes as well as the possibility of growing other varieties of vegetables and fruits, the company is hopeful of increasing its production.
However, the useable flat land is limited due to the hilly jungle areas located at the back of the farm.
In addition, the farm is plagued by monkeys that have caused damage to the crops.
There has also been no water supply to the farm for about a month and the farm currently relies on water from a stream in the hilly jungle to keep the plants moist.
Despite the challenges, the two men said they hope that their determination will pay off in the future and help increase local production of high quality fruits and vegetables to cater not only for the local but also overseas markets.
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