By Zareef Muzammil
SERDANG, Aug 7 — The two years of hard work in research and development (R&D) by a Sepang-based dragon fruit farmer has paid off after reaching success in creating a new kind of dragon fruit dubbed the “Pink Ruby.”
Eugene Chia, 25, is proud of his creative idea after combining red dragon fruit seeds and white dragon fruit filling to create pink dragon fruit despite experiencing several setbacks.
He said that the drive to produce new genetics was sparked by the need to create something distinctive as many others have embarked on dragon fruit farming.
"Since there are currently a lot of red, yellow, and white dragon fruits on the market, I tried to combine the genetics of these existing varieties to create a new one that would stand out from the rest.
“I carried out R&D for two years to see the compatibility of the seeds. In the beginning, it did not work and some were even colourless. But over time, we succeeded and produced (the fruit) as what we have now,” he said when met at the launch of the fruit at the Selangor Pavillion in conjunction with the Malaysia Agriculture, Horticulture, and Agrotourism (2022 Maha) expo at the Malaysia Agro Exposition Park Serdang (Maeps), here yesterday.
The oval-shaped dragon fruit is currently grown on a 10-acre land at Lot 7608, Jalan Besar Batu Satu, Sepang, which is about 66 kilometres from Kuala Lumpur.
Eugene, who is the youngest out of three siblings, said that fruit is also being processed into other products such as crackers, bread, nasi lemak, juice and tea.
He said that he aims to market the products abroad as there has yet to be an entrepreneur that produces products that are made of dragon fruits.
He said that he intends to market the goods internationally as there has yet to be an entrepreneur who made products from dragon fruits.
“Therefore, my family and I are doing a market test to export dragon fruit-based products abroad, but for now related products are still available on the local market.
“We have received good response from all of the products, both from locals and foreigners,” said Eugene, who has been a dragon fruit farm operator for eight years.
