Your Country Dumps Fruit in June and Imports Food in December: A Food Security Post Harvest Policy Brief for Asian Agriculture Ministries (Before the Next Glut Rots on the Roadside)

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Food security post harvest in Asia: surplus fruit harvest and storage for times of glut and shortage

In December 2025, a durian grower in Kuala Pilah, Negeri Sembilan, had turned to selling Musang King by the roadside instead of only to wholesalers, with small fruit going for RM10 a kilo. The New Straits Times reported that his daily sales of about RM15,000 were only enough to cover yearly orchard costs of RM200,000 to RM300,000.

Grade A Musang King that once fetched RM60 to RM75 a kilo had fallen to RM45 to RM50. Some lower grades sold for as little as RM10, depending on quality and size. A Damak grower told the paper the price "cannot fall below RM20 per kg, or we will suffer losses."

Six months later, in June 2026, it happened again. Musang King was reported as low as RM9 a kilo.

Here is the short answer this policy brief gives every Asian agriculture ministry: food security post harvest is a storage problem before it is a farming problem. Asia often grows enough. It loses the race against the clock in the days after harvest. The countries that win will treat short-term storage near the farm as national infrastructure, just like rice reserves.

Short answer: what is "food security post harvest"?

It means keeping food safe, sellable and available in the days, weeks and months after it leaves the tree or field. FAO data shows 13.9% of food in Eastern and South-Eastern Asia is lost after harvest and before it reaches shops. Worldwide, about a quarter of fruit and vegetables are lost at the same stages. A country that cannot hold its harvest swings between gluts (farmers dumping fruit) and shortages (prices spiking, emergency imports). The fix is a layered storage plan: better handling on the farm, small cold and controlled atmosphere storage near the farm, cold transport, and strategic reserves for staples.

I'm Stephen Loke of AgritourismSuccess.com, whose farm is featured in Bloomberg News and Asahi Shimbun. I grow durians in Bentong, Malaysia. I've watched what a glut does to growers from the inside.

This brief is written for ministry officials, policy advisers, cooperative leaders, exporters and farmers who are tired of the same cycle. It is long on purpose. Read it once, then share it with the person in your office who signs the budget.

The Glut-to-Shortage Trap Every Asian Ministry Knows Too Well

In most Asian countries, the same crop causes two opposite headlines in one year.

First, the glut. Everyone harvests at once, the market floods, the price falls below the cost of growing, and fruit is left to rot or dumped by the road.

Then, the shortage. Some farmers plant less next season or give up. The off-season arrives. Prices spike, shoppers complain, and the ministry approves emergency imports.

Diagram of the glut-to-shortage cycle: everyone harvests at once, no place to hold the surplus, price crashes, farmers plant less, off-season shortage and imports, with storage breaking the loop — The glut-to-shortage trap. Storage near the farm breaks the loop at step 2.

Look closely at step 2: "no place to hold the surplus." That is where the whole loop can be broken.

If even part of the peak harvest could be held for one, two or three extra weeks, it would not crash the market. It would be sold later, into a calmer market, or moved to a more distant buyer.

That is not a farming problem. It is a storage and logistics problem. And storage is something governments know how to fund.

What Food Security Actually Means (and Why the Days After Harvest Matter Most)

The 1996 World Food Summit defined food security as existing "when all people, at all times" have access to enough safe and nutritious food.

Most policy work splits this into four pillars:

Availability: is there enough food?
Access: can people afford and reach it?
Utilisation: is it safe and nutritious when eaten?
Stability: do the first three hold steady all year round?

Post-harvest losses hit all four. Food that rots is not available. Price spikes after a glut-and-bust cycle hurt access. Spoiled or badly stored food harms utilisation. And the swing between too much and too little is the very definition of instability.

The ASEAN Integrated Food Security Framework, adopted by ASEAN agriculture ministers in October 2020, lists this objective in plain words: "To reduce postharvest losses." It also asks member states to promote technologies that cut post-harvest losses and food waste.

So the policy mandate already exists. What most countries lack is a practical way to deliver it at farm level.

The Numbers: How Much Food Asia Loses Before It Reaches a Shop

The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) tracks food lost between harvest and retail through its Food Loss Index. Here are the latest figures, for 2023.

Bar chart of FAO Food Loss Index 2023: Northern America and Europe 10.0 percent, world 13.3 percent, Eastern and South-Eastern Asia 13.9 percent, Sub-Saharan Africa 23.0 percent, fruits and vegetables worldwide 25.4 percent — FAO Food Loss Index, 2023. Fruit and vegetables lose the most, about one in four.

Three facts stand out for Asian ministries:

The world loses 13.3% of its food after harvest and before retail. FAO notes "no apparent progress" since 2015.
Eastern and South-Eastern Asia loses 13.9%, slightly above the world average.
Fruits and vegetables are the worst group: 25.4% lost worldwide, up from 23.2% in 2015.

That last number matters most for tropical Asia. Our most valuable export fruits, such as durian, mangosteen, mango and dragon fruit, are highly perishable.

FAO's earlier State of Food and Agriculture 2019 report valued post-harvest losses at about USD 400 billion a year worldwide. It found Central and Southern Asia had the highest losses between harvest and distribution, at 21% (2016 data).

A joint UNEP and FAO report in November 2022 put a sharper point on it. Lack of refrigeration alone causes the loss of 526 million tonnes of food a year, about 12% of global production. It estimated developing countries could save 144 million tonnes a year by reaching developed-country cold chain levels.

Reality Check: These are not "waste" figures from households throwing away leftovers. They are losses before food reaches the shop: on the farm, in the packhouse, in the lorry, at the border and in the wholesale market. That is the part a ministry can fix with infrastructure.

For a deeper look at where the money leaks on the farm itself, see my guide to post-harvest losses in Southeast Asia.

Real Asian Gluts and Shortages Every Ministry Should Study

Statistics are easy to ignore. Stories are not. Here are documented cases from across Asia, all from the last few years.

Country	What happened	When	What it shows
Malaysia	Grade A Musang King fell from RM60–75/kg to RM45–50; lower grades as low as RM10; Musang King reported as low as RM9 in June 2026	Dec 2025 and Jun 2026	Fast-spoiling fruit plus a bumper crop equals a price collapse
Thailand	Ministry of Commerce announced emergency measures to distribute about 300,000 tonnes of southern durian	Aug 2026	Even a leading durian exporter can be caught without a buffer
Philippines	Red onion rose from ₱140/kg (Sept 2022) to ₱720/kg (28 Dec 2022)	2022–2023	A shortage can be as damaging as a glut; cold storage stocks were thin
Philippines	About 5.8 tonnes of cabbage and carrots lost in Benguet after rain and trading-post queues	Aug 2026	Small, local losses add up when there is nowhere to hold produce
Vietnam	About 4,800 trucks of farm produce waited at Lang Son border gates; about 300,000 tonnes of dragon fruit faced no buyers	Dec 2021–Jan 2022	When one export door shuts, fruit has no time to wait
India	Tomato prices touched Rs 200/kg in Karnataka; about Rs 24/kg retail in Hyderabad a month later	Jul–Aug 2023	Boom-and-bust within weeks, driven by perishability

Let's walk through what each one teaches.

Malaysia: the "durian tsunami"

Malaysian media described it as a durian tsunami. Trees planted between 2015 and 2020 are now reaching full production, according to the Johor Fruit Farmers Association, quoted by The Star in June 2026. Good weather added more volume.

Eric Chan of the Durian Manufacturers Association told The Star the drop was partly due to "a lot of fruits not meeting export requirements, particularly for China."

Bar chart of Musang King durian prices per kilo in Malaysia: Grade A before the glut RM60 to 75, Grade A in the glut RM45 to 50, lower grades as low as RM10, lowest reported RM9, with a RM20 break-even line — Musang King prices in Malaysia's glut, against one grower's RM20/kg break-even floor.

Notice the dashed line. One grower said RM20 a kilo was his floor. The lower grades fell well below it.

There's an irony here. In April 2026, FreshPlaza reported that mangosteen prices in Malaysia had overtaken durian. Newer orchards had removed mangosteen trees to give their durians more sun and rain, moving away from mixed planting. One seller put local mangosteen at about RM12 a kilo, while Thai imports sold for about RM5.

So in the same country, in the same year, one fruit was in glut and another was being imported. That is the glut-to-shortage trap in a single picture.

Thailand: 300,000 tonnes needing a home

In August 2026, Thailand's Ministry of Commerce announced emergency measures to distribute about 300,000 tonnes of southern durian. Produce Report said southern output had reached 752,515 tonnes, up 30% on the year, amid slowing Chinese demand and quality problems, including unripe fruit, in early-season shipments to China.

The plan included advance purchase contracts, promotional campaigns, and shipping fruit to markets outside the growing regions.

Earlier, in April 2026, The Nation reported that the Commerce Minister's plan included investing in a nationwide network of cold storage and processing facilities to support the frozen fruit trade. The Thai Durian Association put production costs at 70 to 80 baht a kilo.

If one of the world's biggest durian exporters is reaching for storage, smaller producers should pay attention.

The Philippines: when a kilo of onions cost ₱720

The Philippine onion crisis is the shortage side of the trap. Red onions rose from ₱140 a kilo in September 2022 to ₱720 on 28 December 2022, according to GMA News figures cited by PortCalls Asia.

As of 15 December 2022, only about 2,209 tonnes of locally produced red onions were in cold storage, according to the Presidential Communications Office, against estimated monthly demand of about 21,000 tonnes.

Bar chart of Philippine red onion retail price per kilo: 140 pesos in September 2022 and 720 pesos on 28 December 2022, about five times higher — Philippine red onion prices rose about fivefold between September and late December 2022.

In January 2023, President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., who was also Agriculture Secretary, was quoted by his communications office as saying: "We need more cold storage, we need a better, stronger cold chain."

That's the shortest policy brief I've ever read from a head of state. It's also correct.

The Philippines again: Benguet's quiet losses

Not every loss makes national news. In August 2026, the Department of Agriculture's Cordillera office reported about 5.8 tonnes of Chinese cabbage and carrots lost in Benguet.

The cabbage had waited two nights and two days in a queue to reach the trading centre. Continuous rain, wet loading and slippery roads did the rest. The Daily Tribune reported that farm groups have repeatedly pushed for more cold storage facilities.

Five tonnes sounds small. Multiply it by every trading post, every rainy week and every province, and it becomes a national number.

Vietnam: when the border door shuts

In December 2021, Tuoi Tre News reported close to 5,000 trucks of fruit held up at Vietnam's border gates with China in Lang Son province. They carried jackfruit, mangoes, dragon fruit and watermelons.

One driver said he was spending about VND300,000 a day on fuel just to keep his refrigeration running. He warned that if the delay lasted a few more days, the fruit would rot and could not be sold.

By January 2022, FreshPlaza reported about 300,000 tonnes of dragon fruit would soon be ready for harvest with no buyers, as China tightened border trade under its Covid-19 rules.

The lesson is simple. When an export door shuts, fresh fruit has days, not weeks. Every extra day of shelf life is negotiating power.

India: the tomato roller coaster

In July 2023, Deccan Herald reported tomato prices touching Rs 200 a kilo in Karnataka. By late August, FreshPlaza reported Hyderabad retail prices had fallen to about Rs 24 a kilo as new crops arrived.

India also has one of the best-studied loss surveys in Asia. A NABCONS study covering 2020 to 2022, cited by ICRIER, valued India's post-harvest losses at about Rs 1.53 trillion (USD 18.5 billion) a year. The same NABCONS study, as summarised by Dataful, reported losses of about 15% for guava and 11.6% for tomato.

Indonesia: the national scale

Indonesia's planning ministry, Bappenas, estimated in 2021 that the country lost and wasted 23 to 48 million tonnes of food a year between 2000 and 2019. That is 115 to 184 kg per person, with economic losses of Rp213 to 551 trillion a year.

Bappenas said that food could have fed up to 125 million people.

Field-Tested Play: Before writing a new storage policy, list your country's top five perishable crops. For each one, write down (1) the peak harvest months, (2) the off-season months when you import, and (3) how many days the crop lasts at room temperature. The crops with the biggest gap between peak and off-season, and the shortest shelf life, are where storage pays back fastest.

Why Fruit Gluts Hit Harder Than Rice Gluts

Rice is forgiving. Dry grain can sit in a warehouse for months. Asia has built entire systems around it, from national buffer stocks to the ASEAN Plus Three Emergency Rice Reserve.

Fresh fruit is not forgiving. It keeps breathing after harvest. It uses up its own sugars and moisture, gives off heat and ripens, then over-ripens, then rots.

Durian is the extreme case.

Bar chart of published durian shelf life: fallen ripe durian at room temperature 2 to 3 days, damaged durian 2 to 3 days, ripe D24 at 10 degrees Celsius up to 14 days — Published durian shelf-life figures from post-harvest guides (not Janny MT results).

The International Tropical Fruits Network (TFNet) says naturally fallen durian should be sold or eaten within 2 to 3 days at 25–30°C. Its Malaysian section puts storage life at 3 to 4 days. Ripe D24 can keep up to 14 days at 10°C, but lower temperatures can damage the skin, a form of chilling injury.

That is why a durian glut becomes a dumping crisis within a week. A rice glut is a warehouse problem. A durian glut is a race against the clock.

There's also a hard truth about staple security. Malaysia's own Agriculture and Food Security Ministry said in October 2026 that the rice self-sufficiency ratio had dropped to 54.3% in 2025, from 68% in 2018.

DOSM's 2025 figures, released in September 2026, also show import dependency ratios of 67.9% for chilli and 59.0% for round cabbage, while Malaysia produces more papaya, watermelon and starfruit than it needs (self-sufficiency of 122% to 132%).

Rice reserves matter. But a modern food security plan must also cover the perishable crops that make up a large part of what families buy every week.

For a look at how cheap imports squeeze local growers when there's no buffer, read why cheap imports are crushing vegetable growers in Malaysia.

What Storage Can (and Cannot) Do

Let me be fair about this. Storage is not magic. It cannot turn bad fruit into good fruit. It cannot fix a market that is permanently oversupplied.

What storage can do is buy time. And time is the one thing every glut runs out of.

Time lets a cooperative:

Spread a two-week harvest peak over four or five weeks of sales
Wait for a better price instead of accepting the worst one
Reach a distant buyer or an export market
Ride out a border delay or a bad-weather week
Sort and grade properly, so only export-quality fruit is sent to strict markets

China has tested this at national scale. A study published in the Journal of Cleaner Production in September 2025, reported by the International Institute of Refrigeration, found that government-led investment in cold storage at production sites cut post-harvest handling and storage losses by 13% in 2022. China added 12.5 million tonnes of storage capacity between 2020 and 2022.

That is the "first kilometre" idea. Put storage close to the farm, not only in big city warehouses.

Reality Check: Storage only pays if fruit goes in at the right maturity and in good condition. Bruised, diseased or under-mature fruit will not improve in any store. Every storage programme needs a grading and handling standard at the door.

How Controlled Atmosphere Storage Works (in Plain Words)

Most people know cold storage: make it cold, slow everything down. Controlled atmosphere storage adds a second lever: change the air.

Normal air is about 21% oxygen. Fruit uses that oxygen to "breathe," which drives ripening.

Controlled atmosphere (CA) storage lowers the oxygen and raises the carbon dioxide around the fruit. Postharvest course material by Beth Mitcham of the University of California, Davis, explains that lower oxygen and higher carbon dioxide slow respiration, which slows ripening and ageing.

Bar chart comparing oxygen levels: normal air about 21 percent oxygen, controlled atmosphere storage about 0.5 to 5 percent oxygen depending on the crop, showing less oxygen means slower ripening — How controlled atmosphere storage works: less oxygen, slower breathing, slower ripening.

CA is not new. Franklin Kidd and Cyril West at the Low Temperature Research Station in Cambridge, England, laid the groundwork, and England's first commercial apple store using "gas storage" was built in 1929, according to Fruit Growers News. It's a big reason shoppers in many countries can buy good apples months after harvest.

But there are two important cautions:

Every crop has its own limits. Some tolerate oxygen as low as about 0.5%; others need 3% to 5%. Carbon dioxide tolerance ranges from about 1% to 15%.
Too little oxygen is harmful. The fruit switches to fermentation, which can cause off-flavours, uneven ripening and injury.

So CA must be matched to the crop. That's why tested, crop-specific settings matter more than any sales brochure.

For a farmer-level explanation, see my plain-English guide to controlled atmosphere storage without a big cold room.

Traditionally, CA meant large, sealed rooms that cost a lot to build, mostly built for apples and pears in temperate countries. Tropical Asia, with millions of smallholders, needs something smaller and more flexible.

A Four-Layer Post-Harvest Storage Plan for Food Security

Here is a simple framework ministries can use. Think of storage as four layers, each with its own job and time scale.

Diagram of a four-layer post-harvest storage plan: layer 1 on the farm, layer 2 near the farm with cold rooms and controlled atmosphere bins, layer 3 in transit with reefer containers, layer 4 strategic reserves and processing — Four layers of post-harvest storage, from days on the farm to months in strategic reserves.

Layer	Where	Typical time it buys	Examples of tools	Who usually owns it
1. On the farm	Field, shade, packing shed	Hours to days	Shade, careful picking, crates, sorting	Farmer
2. Near the farm	Cooperative, collection centre	Days to weeks	Small cold rooms, controlled atmosphere bins	Co-op, agency, private
3. In transit	Road, rail, sea, border	Days to weeks	Reefer containers, faster border clearance	Exporters, logistics firms
4. Strategic	National warehouses, processors	Months	Rice reserves, frozen, paste, dried products	Government, processors

Most Asian countries have invested heavily in Layer 4 for rice. Many have growing Layer 3 capacity because exporters pay for it.

Layer 2 is the gap. It's the layer that protects smallholders during a glut, and it's the one most often missing.

Field-Tested Play: When funding Layer 2, favour equipment that can move. A fixed cold room helps one district. Modular, stackable storage that can be trucked to wherever this year's glut is, and loaded into reefer containers for export, serves many districts across the season.

Lessons From Durian Exports: Fresh Fruit Needs Time to Travel

Malaysia's durian export story shows why storage and market access go together.

According to a written Dewan Rakyat reply from the Agriculture and Food Security Ministry, reported by Malay Mail in October 2025, Malaysia shipped 115,359 tonnes of durian to China worth RM6.37 billion between 2018 and 2025.

Bar chart of Malaysia frozen whole durian exports to China in tonnes: 2019 3,177, 2020 6,225, 2021 12,153, 2022 13,401, 2023 13,983 — Malaysia's frozen whole durian exports to China grew from 3,177 tonnes (2019, exports began in June) to 13,983 tonnes (2023).

Fresh whole durian exports to China only began in August 2024, after a protocol signed in June 2024. In the first half of 2025, Malaysia sent 773 tonnes of fresh durian to China, worth nearly RM50 million.

Looking ahead, the ministry expects durian exports to China to reach about RM1.8 billion by 2030. That is a forecast, not a result.

Compare this with Vietnam. FreshPlaza reported Vietnam's durian exports were nearly USD 3.3 billion in 2024, about half its total fruit and vegetable export revenue.

The difference is not only the fruit. It's how far and how fast fresh fruit can travel while still arriving in good condition. Every extra day of shelf life widens the map of reachable buyers.

That's why I wrote a separate guide for exporters and distributors who need more time on every shipment.

Our Own Answer at Bloopy Durians: Janny MT Controlled Atmosphere Modules

Now let me tell you what we're doing about it on the ground.

Bloopy Durians is the Janny MT representative and holds the rights to distribute and sell Janny MT controlled atmosphere storage modules. We can supply them to countries in South East Asia and across Asia.

Janny MT modules are new to Asia. Instead of a giant sealed room, each module is a stackable bin that holds the produce in a controlled atmosphere. The bins are handled like pallets, and the modules can be exported inside reefer containers.

They are designed to work for many types of produce, which is why I call the module the post-harvest solution that keeps produce fresh longer. Durian and mangosteen are among them. You can see the full Janny MT storage list of fruits and vegetables here.

What our own tests found

I believe we are the first to test the Janny MT module on durians in Malaysia. We tested on local fruits.

Here's what we found in our own field tests at Bloopy Durians:

Durian: the module extended shelf life by 5 to 10 days. In my view, that makes it well suited to durian export to China, where every day in transit counts.
Mangosteen: fruit lasted up to 18 days in the module.

Reality Check: These are our own field tests at Bloopy Durians, not a published scientific study or an independent trial. Results depend on the fruit's maturity and condition when it goes in, and on handling. I share them so officials and exporters know where to start their own trials, not as a guarantee.

Think about what 5 to 10 extra days means during a glut. Remember those fallen durians with 2 to 3 days of life? Adding even a week could help turn a dumping crisis into an orderly sale. It could also mean the difference between dumping fruit locally and reaching a buyer abroad.

For mangosteen, the extra time could help growers time their sales instead of selling into the cheapest week.

Why I link this to national security

When I talk to people about Janny MT, I keep coming back to one idea. A country that cannot hold its own harvest is exposed.

It's exposed to gluts that push farmers out of farming. It's exposed to shortages that force emergency imports. It's exposed to border closures, like the ones Vietnam faced, that leave fresh produce with nowhere to go.

Modular storage that can be moved to wherever the surplus is, then loaded into reefer containers when an export window opens, is a practical tool for that problem. It's why I see Janny MT as more than a farm product. It's a piece of food security infrastructure.

If you're a ministry official, a cooperative leader or an exporter and you'd like to talk about Janny MT for your country, WhatsApp Stephen 017-9250613 · www.bloopydurians.com. I'm happy to share what we learned.

WhatsApp Stephen about Janny MT

For the full product walkthrough, read the complete guide to Janny MT post-harvest modules.

About Bloopy Durians

Bloopy Durians is our durian farm in Bentong, Pahang, Malaysia. We started slightly after covid.

Our durian seasons are short, roughly December to February and June to August. That short window is exactly why post-harvest time matters so much to us. Every day a fruit stays fresh is a day we can sell it well.

We supply durians for corporate events, and the farm welcomes visitors from all over the world who come to taste durian straight from the orchard.

Living through the price swings of a durian glut is why Janny MT matters so much to us. For a grower, every day of freshness is fruit you don't have to throw away.

If you're a farmer in a similar spot, my article on how farms use visitor income to fill the gap when crop prices fall shows another way to protect your income.

Questions Ministries Should Ask Before Funding Post-Harvest Storage

This section is not legal, regulatory or procurement advice. It's a checklist of questions to ask your own experts, auditors and lawyers.

Questions about the problem

Which five perishable crops cause our biggest gluts, and in which months?
Which crops do we import most heavily in the off-season?
How many days does each crop last at room temperature, in cold storage, and in controlled atmosphere storage?
Where do our losses actually happen: on the farm, at collection points, in transport, at borders or in wholesale markets?
Do we have reliable loss data, or are we guessing? Could we join the FAO Food Loss Index methodology?

Questions about the solution

Do we need fixed cold rooms, mobile modular storage, or both?
Can the equipment be moved between districts as gluts shift from year to year?
Can stored produce be loaded straight into reefer containers for export?
Has the technology been tested on our own varieties, under our own conditions?
Will we run our own field trials before a large rollout, and who will publish the results?

Questions about who runs it

Who owns the storage: the ministry, a state agency, cooperatives, or private operators?
Who decides when produce goes in and comes out, and at what price?
How will smallholders get fair access, not just the biggest growers?
What grading and handling standard must fruit meet at the door?
Who pays for power, maintenance and training?

Questions about rules and risk

What food safety, phytosanitary and export rules apply to stored produce for each market?
Do import partners such as China require specific registrations for packhouses or exporters?
How will we prevent storage being used for hoarding or price manipulation?
What insurance covers stored produce if equipment fails?
How will we measure success: tonnes saved, farm-gate prices, import bills, or all three?

Field-Tested Play: Start with a pilot in one glut-prone district, on one or two crops, for one full season. Measure fruit saved, price received and days gained. Publish the results. A small, honest pilot persuades a treasury far better than a big promise.

If your ministry or cooperative wants to plan a Janny MT pilot on durian, mangosteen or another crop, WhatsApp Stephen 017-9250613 · www.bloopydurians.com.

WhatsApp Stephen about Janny MT

A Seven-Point Policy Brief for Asian Agriculture Ministries

If you only take one section to your next meeting, take this one.

No. 1: Treat near-farm storage as national infrastructure. Rice reserves are already seen as strategic. Perishable crops deserve a Layer 2 storage network too.

No. 2: Map your glut calendar. Build one chart showing each major crop's peak harvest and off-season import months. That chart tells you where storage pays back first.

No. 3: Fund mobile, modular storage alongside fixed cold rooms. Gluts move between districts and years. Equipment that moves with them serves more farmers.

No. 4: Link storage to export access. Storage that extends shelf life widens the export map. Pair storage funding with market access work and phytosanitary protocols.

No. 5: Put cooperatives in charge where you can. Farmers trust storage they help run. Co-op ownership also spreads access beyond the largest growers.

No. 6: Require trials and publish the data. Every crop and variety behaves differently. Insist on local trials and publish results so others can learn.

No. 7: Measure what matters. Track tonnes saved, farm-gate prices in glut months, and off-season import bills. If those don't move, change the plan.

This also ties into a wider point I've made about farm policy. Smart farmers never let a government cheque be their whole business plan, as I explained in why subsidies alone won't save a farm. Good post-harvest policy should leave farmers stronger and less dependent, not more.

What This Means for Farmers and Exporters Reading This

Not everyone reading this works in a ministry. Many of you are farmers, cooperative managers or exporters.

Here's my advice for you:

Don't wait for the government. Start with Layer 1: careful picking, shade, gentle handling and sorting. It costs little and saves a lot.
Club together. A cooperative can afford Layer 2 storage that no single smallholder can.
Sell direct when prices crash. Many families will drive out to farms to buy direct, as I showed in why world food price rises push buyers to farms.
Add a second income. Malaysia is already promoting orchard visits through official agrotourism packages, as covered in Malaysia's Taste of Orchard agrotourism packages. Visitors pay for the experience even when the fruit price is low.
Talk to your distributor about time. If you sell storage or farm inputs, read why a post-harvest distributor in Asia should add products that buy customers time.

Governments elsewhere are also using farm tourism to support rural income. Kerala's state government, for example, is pushing farm tourism, as I covered in Kerala's new farm tourism push.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is food security post harvest?

It means keeping food safe, sellable and available after it's harvested, through handling, storage, transport and reserves. FAO data shows 13.9% of food in Eastern and South-Eastern Asia is lost between harvest and retail, so the days after harvest are a major food security risk.

How much food does Asia lose after harvest?

FAO's Food Loss Index for 2023 puts losses at 13.9% in Eastern and South-Eastern Asia and 13.3% worldwide. Fruit and vegetables are the worst group, at 25.4% lost worldwide before reaching shops.

Why do gluts and shortages happen in the same country?

Because perishable crops are harvested in short peaks. Without storage, the peak floods the market and prices crash. Some farmers then plant less, and in the off-season prices spike and imports rise. Storage near the farm smooths both ends.

What is controlled atmosphere storage?

It's storage that lowers oxygen and raises carbon dioxide around produce, often with cooling. This slows the fruit's breathing, which slows ripening and ageing. Settings must match each crop, because too little oxygen can cause off-flavours and injury.

How long does durian last after harvest?

Published guides say naturally fallen durian should be sold or eaten within 2 to 3 days at 25–30°C. Ripe D24 can keep up to 14 days at 10°C. In our own field tests at Bloopy Durians, Janny MT modules extended durian shelf life by 5 to 10 days.

Is Janny MT available in Malaysia and the rest of Asia?

Yes. Bloopy Durians is the Janny MT representative and holds the rights to distribute and sell Janny MT modules, and can supply countries in South East Asia and Asia. WhatsApp Stephen on 017-9250613 to discuss your needs.

Should governments fund cold rooms or modular storage?

Often both. Fixed cold rooms suit permanent hubs. Modular, stackable storage that can move between districts and go into reefer containers suits gluts that shift from place to place and year to year.

Your Next Step

If you're a ministry official, agency head, cooperative leader, exporter or farmer, and you'd like to explore Janny MT controlled atmosphere modules for your country or your crop, message me directly. Tell me your crop, your country and your glut months, and we'll talk about what a sensible trial could look like.

WhatsApp Stephen 017-9250613 · www.bloopydurians.com

WhatsApp Stephen about Janny MT

If you're a farmer who also wants a second income from visitors, take the free Farm Readiness Quiz to see where your farm stands.

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And download the free 21-Point Agritourism Blueprint for a step-by-step start.

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P.S. Think back to that Kuala Pilah grower by the roadside in December 2025, selling his own Musang King as prices tumbled. He didn't need more fruit. He needed more time. Every ministry in Asia can give its farmers that time. The only question is whether we build it before the next glut, or after.

Stephen Loke of AgritourismSuccess.com, whose farm is featured in Bloomberg News and Asahi Shimbun. This article is general information, not legal, financial, regulatory or procurement advice. Janny MT results mentioned are from Bloopy Durians' own field tests on local fruits, not a published or independent study. Please consult qualified experts before making policy or investment decisions.