Vegetables Go To Waste As Farmers Wilt Under Emco

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A pile of tomatoes lies on the ground in a farm in Tringkap, Cameron Highlands, because farmers cannot attend to their crops due to the EMCO. (Facebook pic)CAMERON HIGHLANDS: Vegetable farmers at a village here are seeing their precious crops going to waste because of their inability to harvest them during the enhanced movement control order (EMCO) period.
Farmer Lau Weng Soow from Tringkap said he cannot even go to work on his farm during the EMCO until July 11.
The village was placed under a two-week total lockdown after health officers detected 70 Covid-19 cases.
“There is a specific period for us to harvest the vegetables. For example, we need to harvest tomatoes within two and half months after planting them.
“Since we are under EMCO, we cannot go out to harvest the vegetables. There is no other way but to destroy the vegetables,” he told FMT.
Pictures of large quantities of withered vegetables abandoned in farms have gone viral on Whatsapp.
Lau lamented that the health officers have yet to complete Covid-19 screening for farm workers in Tringkap, most of whom are foreigners.
Vegetables discarded on a hill slope in Cameron Highlands.“We hope the government can consider moving those workers who tested positive for Covid-19 to another quarantine centre instead of letting them observe self-quarantine at the farms’ hostels.
“That way, we will feel safe going back to work,” he said, adding that this lockdown had impacted farmers’ income.
Meanwhile, Lau Sai Hoong, a committee member of the Tringkap farmers’ task force, said it was hard to estimate the farmers’ losses during lockdown.
“They have different crops. We cannot estimate how much losses they incurred from this EMCO but I can say the damage is severe,” he added.
Sai Hoong said the government must move positive Covid-19 cases to another quarantine centre.
He also warned that many farmers might not survive an extended EMCO lockdown as they have not worked since June 28. “We just want to get back to work, safely,” he said. - FMT

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