Passionate farmer nurtures his love for fruit trees

Compiled by ZAKIAH KOYA, R. ARAVINTHAN and JAROD LIM

BAD weather damaged hundreds of his passion fruit trees but farmer Leong Kam Lam in central Perak district is determined to carry on, Kosmo reported.

He said the setback has not broken his spirit and that he would continue growing passion fruit on a 4ha farm in Bota, Perak.

Leong, who has 20 years of experience in agriculture, said his family members and workers had braced through the situation and managed to collect around two tonnes of passion fruit during the last harvest.

“This fruit has a strong demand in the market. So, our current target is to export it to Singapore by the end of this year,” said Leong, 55.

“With special care, the plants can produce a high-grade value. Currently, grade A passion fruit is sold at around RM5 per kg, while grade B is sold at RM3 per kg,” he said.

Fig trees, he said, needed much care.

“For example, they need to be fertilised every 10 days,” he said.

Bedridden and blind, 13-year-old Ahmad Arfan Farhat Mohd Basir has not been able to go to school for the past four years due to a neurological disease, Harian Metro reported. He was diagnosed with X-linked adrenoleukodystrophy after experiencing blurred vision at the age of nine.

“Within five months, his health deteriorated and he was bedridden,” said his father Mohd Basir Mohd Nor, 41.

The family, who lives in Terengganu, tried seeking help for the boy at hospitals and private clinics but there has been no successful treatment yet.

“Doctors said that my son’s disease cannot be treated and there is no medication.”

Physiotherapy was of no help, he added.

When the child was diagnosed, he said that doctors estimated that the boy could survive for about 10 years.

Mohd Basir, who is the sole breadwinner, said his wife was looking after their boy.

“For now, we are using our own funds for Arfan’s needs. It is not enough, as we have two other children,” he added.

The above articles are compiled from the vernacular newspapers (Bahasa Malaysia, Chinese and Tamil dailies). As such, stories are grouped according to the respective language/medium. Where a paragraph begins with a >, it denotes a separate news item.