Amanah to 'capture Kelantan' with bananas, limes and grass

Kelantan is far from being a banana republic in its theoretical sense but Amanah has highlighted the fruit as a part of its agriculture-driven campaign to capture the state come next 14th general elections.

Among others, the party through NGO Amanah Agro led by Kelantan Amanah youth leader Hishamudin Ghazali, had recently conducted a banana planting course in Pasir Mas.

According to Hishamudin, there had been an increase in cases of farmers suffering losses due to a disease that affected banana trees.

“As a result, many banana orchards were abandoned and overgrown with weeds. There were fewer interests to plant banana trees despite high demands for bananas, causing the price to increase.

“Realising the problem, Amanah Agro as an NGO with expertise in cultivating seedlings has taken the initiative to conduct a free course for farmers affected by diseased banana trees,” he told Malaysiakini.

For over 60 participants of the course, Hishamudin said Amanah Agro also introduced a locally produced remedy proven to control the spread of the disease.

This was on top of guiding the young farmers on the best way to select a banana seedling, disease control techniques, fertilising routine, as well as its overall quality and marketing strategy.

“Through our small contribution, we hope it would be the start to spur Kelantan’s agriculture industry,” he added.

Another Kelantan Amanah youth leader, Nazmi Hassan, noted Amanah Agro’s aggressive efforts to develop the agriculture industry, particularly targeted towards younger farmers.

“Last Saturday, Amanah Agro had a course on planting bananas using tissue cultivation.

“We were surprised by the turnout as it was double than what we had targeted,” said Nazmi.

Amanah’s overall campaign was inspired by the PAS-led state government’s slogan “Bertani satu ibadah” (Farming is a form of worship) that also captured the essence of Kelantan’s socio-economic landscape.

In the past, Kelantan Amanah advisor Husam Musa had also actively promoted new agriculture projects in the state.

Earlier this month, the Salor assemblyperson had introduced the AquaOren and EcoOren programmes that involved planting lime and calamansi trees, as well as releasing 2,500 baby silver catfish (ikan patin) into the Kelantan river.

He also launched a One Blossom project to revive the Kelantan river bed by planting sunflowers and a type of grass known as SEF or “sugar, energy and feed”.

“This type of grass is suitable for animal feed and if this project is successful, we can expand it to other farmers in Kelantan and address the problem of feed shortage,” said Husam in a video of the project’s launch.

Amanah, through its campaign, has set its sight on becoming Pakatan Harapan’s backbone to wrest the state government from PAS in the GE14.

With Husam’s appointment as state Harapan chief, it is understood that the PAS-splinter party looks set to dominate the number of contested seats, although their chances at victory remain to be seen.

Kelantan Harapan is scheduled to meet tomorrow morning with an agenda to formalise its machinery and fill up other vacant positions.

Seat negotiations among the component parties are also expected to top its agenda. - Mkini