PASIR PUTEH: A young man did not expect his tapioca harvest from his eight-hectare piece of land to rake in good sales of selling one tonne of the produce per day since the onslaught of the Northeast Monsoon this week.
Mohd Hazim Zulkifli, 26, said he cultivated the crop together with his friend, Azizan Muhammad, 36, in Kampung Kemudu Bongkok, Bachok in Kelantan, and sold the produce in Kampung Gaal beginning three days ago.
"We started out our tapioca cultivation seeing that the crop is well-received by the people each time the monsoon season rolls in.
"We did not expected our sales to do so well from the first day we started selling the tapioca.
We began selling 500 kilogrammes (kg) of tapioca per day. On the second day, it went up to 850 kg and on the third day sales reached one tonne a day," he told Bernama here today (November 23).
He said their tapioca stall is along the roadside in Kampung Gaal which is close to Jertih, Terengganu.
"I see this as more a advantageous position for us as it draws more customers from both sides of the border (Kelantan and Terengganu). We sell the tapioca at RM2.50 per kg," he said.
Mohd Hazim said he would probably have to top up his tapioca supply by buying the crop from other growers if he is not able to meet customer demand during this monsoon season.
He said besides selling tapioca, he also sells young coconuts, and various flavours of tapioca chips which he has sold for over three years.
Seeing that sales are so good, Mohd Hazim has employed a helper and is also assisted by his wife, Nabila Abdullah, 26, who quit working as a marketing assistant to help him in managing his business.
According to him, since the sale of raw tapioca has received a very encouraging response, he will continue his efforts to plant the crop as soon as this year's monsoon season ends in preparation for sales next year.
"I find the tapioca crop has a good potential whether sold raw during the monsoon season or made into (tapioca) chips to be sold throughout the year," he added. — Bernama