The famous agro-tourism destination Desaru Fruit Farm suffered a loss of about RM600,000 after 90 percent of its 35 hectares of orchards were flooded due to flooding.
Desaru Fruit Farm Director, Alice Tong Ah Chin said water guava, banana, bidara and bali lime were among the fruit crops that were badly damaged when her garden was flooded with more than two meters of water last Tuesday.
“The damage is not only to the trees and fruits, but also to our other infrastructure, including the agricultural gallery, which is also flooded.
“We have more than 100 types of crops and fruit trees, although we are often hit by floods, this time was one of the worst floods,” he said when met by reporters at Desaru Fruit Farm, here, today.
He said the bridge at the entrance to Desaru Fruit Farm was also submerged in water up to waist level which caused the bank to collapse.
Tong said due to the flood and the damage suffered, he was also forced to cancel the bookings of customers who wanted to do activities in the garden.
He said his party also took out its own capital by hiring a bulldozer to widen the Sungai Cemaran near the Desaru Fruit Farm, to allow the water to recede.
Therefore, he also hopes that the relevant parties can help considering that Desaru Fruit Farm, which is one of the famous agrotourism destinations since 2003, receives about 500,000 visitors every year.
“Our tourists are not only from Singapore, but also from China, Turkey, Brunei, India and South Korea.
“So I hope any department can help, including to enlarge Sungai Cemaran because this area is a tourist attraction,” he said.
As of 2pm this afternoon, the number of flood victims in seven districts in the state began to decrease to 5,427 people.
