Farmer in Terengganu loses RM300,000 after bushfire razes chilli fertigation plot

“JERTIH, April 27 — A bushfire that swept through a chilli fertigation project in Kampung Gong Machang, near Kampung Beting Lintang, has devastated a farmer, leaving him with a RM300,000 loss after his cultivation structures were destroyed. Wan Mohd Nazmi Wan Mohd Najib, 40, said the April 9 incident was the first he had experienced since he began operating the suspended fertigation system six years ago. He was at his home in Kampung Pak Wong, 17 kilometres from the fertigation plot, when an acquaintance contacted him at 3.40pm to inform him that his smallholding was on fire. “Upon arriving at the plot, I found the fire raging, consuming the grass, support pillars, and fertigation polybags. Personnel from the Malaysian Fire and Rescue Department (JBPM) arrived shortly after and managed to extinguish the flames before they could spread to adjacent plots,” he said when met at the project site. Wan Mohd Nazmi added that the fire is believed to have originated from a bushfire involving trees located some one kilometre from his smallholding. The fire destroyed wooden support poles and scorched 10,000 planting polybags across a 1.2-hectare area. “Fortunately, the incident occurred before I had planted the new season’s chilli crop. Otherwise, the losses would have been significantly higher,” said Wan Mohd Nazmi, who operates the farm under the guidance of the Besut Agriculture Department and the Kerandang Area Farmers’ Organisation (PPK). He added that the prolonged drought over the past few months had made the area highly combustible, with minor spot fires still being detected at his smallholding. Meanwhile, Terengganu JBPM Director Nor Mahathir Muhamad said in a statement yesterday that 1,420 cases of open burning had been recorded statewide from January 1 until Saturday. He said that, of the total, 1,121 cases involved bush and grass fires, followed by forest fires (139), farm fires (16), and other types of open burning (144). — Bernama

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