Articles
VEGETABLE PRODUCTION IN MALAYSIA
Vegetables are generally consumed fresh, although processed vegetables are also popular among Malaysians of Chinese origin.
A wide range of temperate and tropical vegetables are cultivated in Malaysia and many native and wild plants are also collected and used as vegetables or salads.
Malaysia, lying between 1° to 7° north of the Equator has specific ecological conditions with an average high uniform temperature 27° –32°C all year round at sea level.
The humidity is high (80–85%) and rainfall is fairly evenly distributed.
For many years, plantation crops, namely, rubber, oil palm, cocoa and coconut dominated the agricultural development programmes and provided much of the foreign exchange.
Most of the fertile alluvial coastal plains and the more fertile undulating foothills have been cleared for the cultivation of these perennial plantation crops.
Rice, as the staple food crop, is almost entirely confined to the flood plains.
Originally, vegetables were grown in small patches by the rural people for their own consumption and the bulk of the urban needs were imported.
However, urbanization and rapid industrial development stimulated demand for fresh greens in urban centres.
Land in the out-skirts of town centres were converted into vegetable farms.
These were mainly operated by Chinese farmers usually as part of a combined pig farming or chicken raising business.
Larger farms are concentrated in specialised areas in the highlands producing temperate vegetables and peat regions of Johore where fresh vegetables find ready market in Singapore.
Collectively, these thousands of farms scattered all over the country produce fresh vegetables throughout the year.