Orchid sales bloom for farmer after pandemic gloom

JOHOR BARU: As a steadfast grower of orchids, Lian Yong Heng is as hardy as the blooms he lovingly cultivates in his farm in the state known for being the biggest producer of orchids in the country.

The 65-year-old, who is also the Malaysian Commercial Orchid Planters Association president, said over the years, the number of orchid growers has dropped drastically, especially as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic.

The association, he added, had about 70 members previously but the numbers have dwindled to only about a dozen.

“When the borders were closed in 2020, many of the Singaporean owners were unable to enter to check on their farms and some were just neglected and eventually sold,” said Lian, adding that he, too, was forced to discard the orchids that he was not able to sell.

“During the periods of the movement control order, we were practically cutting and throwing away the flowers because we couldn’t sell them. It was a huge loss for all of us,” he said.

He, however, persisted in running his farm in Ban Foo in suburban Ulu Tiram here. In Ban Foo, at least 20ha of land is dedicated to the planting of orchids.

Lian, who was born in Tangkak, Johor, was in his 30s when he first started dabbling in farming, growing vegetables in Singapore.

After a few years, the farms in Singapore, especially around Mandai, had to be relocated to Johor and Lian moved to Ban Foo to start growing orchids when his boss bought a 3.2ha site here in 1989.

Since then, he has been growing orchids and exporting them to Singapore three times a week.

Lian said many Singaporean farmers purchased land around Ban Foo in the 1980s after the Singapore government started acquiring farming land.

He invested his savings of about RM160,000 to purchase a portion of the business from his then employer.

“Now, I have more than 100,000 orchid plants in my farm. Among the hottest colours are white, purple, red, yellow, orange and pink. The hybrid orchids are also popular,” he said in an interview.

Lian said an orchid seedling needs nurturing for at least one-and-a-half years before it can be cut regularly.

He said during this period, it is important to fertilise the plants regularly and spray pesticides to get rid of pests.

“You also cannot have too much rain or expose the plants to too much heat under direct sunlight,” he said, adding that his farm could produce about 4,000 to 6,000 stalks of orchids a day.

Each stalk can be sold to florist shops in Singapore for between S$0.10 (30 sen) and S$0.50 (RM1.50) each, he said.

Lian is optimistic that with the reopening of the international borders, the farmers from Ban Foo and Kota Tinggi will be able to market their orchids not just in Singapore but to other countries including Japan.

On the problem of labour shortage, Lian said he hopes the government will look into the matter urgently as it poses a huge problem that is hurting the agricultural sector.

Asked about his future plans, the father of three girls and one boy said his son has shown some interest in running the business.