PETALING JAYA: While fruits need water to grow, higher rainfall may adversely affect their growth, say farmers.

       They said the production of local fruits such as watermelons and honeydew is expected to be affected by the increased rainfall in the past couple of months.

       Malaysia Fruit Farmers Association Youth League assistant principal Koven Lo explained that the excessive rainfall might cause leaves to be infected by bacteria and roots to rot.

       “Fruits can’t last long and their quality will be impacted,” he said when contacted.

       Other fruits like papaya, banana and guava will grow better if they are not hit by acutely high rainfall or floods, he added.

       Lo also said that the prices of agricultural products might increase because of a lack of manpower besides the rise in planting cost.

       Jeacy Tan, a farmer in Negri Sembilan who plants durian, soursop and mangosteen, said the fruits planted on higher ground were not as affected by heavy rainfall as those on the ground.

       “The farms on the ground are likely to feel the negative effects of excessive rainfall,” she said.

       Malaysia has seen more rainfall over the past few months during the north-east monsoon, which resulted in devastating floods in parts of the country. The Klang Valley was hit particularly hard last December because of the La Nina phenomenon.

       The continuous rainfall in the west coast of Peninsular Malaysia lately is unlike the usual drier, hotter season.

       Farmers in Perlis, which should have seen drier, hotter days this time of the year, have complained that the wetter weather has impacted the production of the famous harumanis mangoes.

       Like Lo, Lim Ser Kwee, the president of the Malaysia Federation of Vegetable Farmers Associations, also said that heavy rainfall might cause the leaves and roots of vegetables to not grow well because of too much water.

       “Our output of vegetables such as tomato, cucumber and eggplant will be hampered by high rainfall,” he said.

       Lim added that like many farmers, they also desperately needed more foreign workers to run their operations.