Kedah to have VELL-y large durian farm, in fact world's largest - VELL-y good

FMT:

World’s largest Musang King durian farm in Kedah? We will probe, says Kedah MB

A person in the video claiming that the hillside will be cleared to plant durian trees, making it the largest such plantation in the world.

ALOR SETAR: Kedah will probe claims that at least 30,000 acres (12,140ha) of hill land between Kulim and Baling have been turned into the “world’s largest Musang King durian farm”, as claimed by a man in an undated video.

The area to be cleared is about two and a half times bigger than the size of Putrajaya.

In the clip, a man is seen claiming that the Gunung Inas area would soon be the “largest durian farm ever”, with 500 Musang King saplings already planted.

Gunung Inas is located in southeast Kedah, between Baling in the north and Kulim in the south, with the Perak border not too far away in the east.

Speaking to FMT, Kedah menteri besar Muhammad Sanusi Md Nor said this issue was an old one that he inherited from the past administration, adding that it was addressed last year.

He said after he took over as the menteri besar last May, he had ordered the durian planting works on Gunung Inas to stop after it caused mud floods in the valley two months later.

Sanusi said the land clearing was also suspected to have affected a river serving 3,000 villagers.

“I have ordered the relevant agencies to revert with an immediate status report,” he said when contacted.

Last July, it was reported that Sanusi had ordered a company planting durians on a 600ha site near Gunung Inas to plant cover crops and timber trees there, after the Kupang sub-district in Baling was flooded following a downpour, bringing swathes of mud from the cleared hills.

In December 2019, the then Kedah environmental committee chairman, Simon Ooi Tze Min, had revealed that the owners of the site had obtained environmental impact assessment (EIA) approval in 2013, including the nod from the state Forestry Department.

This came after the Kupang district was flooded back in 2019. Ooi had said then that the authorities would investigate if the hill-clearing had caused the flash floods back then.

Meanwhile, Sahabat Alam Malaysia president Meenakshi Raman said durian plantations should not be allowed in forested areas as this would result in the destruction of pristine rainforest.

“Already, the country is facing controversy over oil palm and forest destruction, and now it has to contend with durians.

“The forests are our natural carbon sinks and we must do all we can to mitigate climate change by not allowing more forests to be cleared. The claims in the video must be investigated,” she said.

Environmental activist Shariffa Sabrina Syed Akil said the ultimate power to stop such land clearing was with the menteri besar.

She said the state government should come clean on whether any EIA approval was given and if there was one, who had approved it.

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and if you VELL-y believe him, wakakaka:

FMT:

Records show only 730ha used for durian farms, says Kedah MB

ALOR SETAR: Current records show that only about 730ha (1,800 acres) of forests in Kedah have been turned into durian farms, menteri besar Muhammad Sanusi Md Nor said today after claims were made about the “world’s largest Musang King” farm being created in the hinterlands of Baling and Kulim.

An undated video that has been circulated shows a man claiming that the Gunung Inas area would soon be turned into the “largest durian farm ever” spanning 30,000 acres, with 500 Musang King saplings already planted.

Sanusi said that while there was infomation about 30,000 acres being cleared, state authorities were unsure if all the land comprised durian plantations.

He said investigations are being held to ascertain the latest numbers. Current records at the Kedah Forestry Department showed that only 5% or 15,380ha of forests in the state are allowed to be developed into farmed forests (ladang hutan).