With sustainability becoming a topic of conversation everywhere, environmentalists today are cracking down on environmental issues like deforestation - one of the attributed reasons to the hole in the ozone layer. Lately, activists are pointing the finger at the King of Fruits, the spiky and pungent durian.
To meet the growing demand in China, durian growers in Malaysia are increasingly shifting from small orchards to industrial-scale operations. In Pahang, rainforests have recently been chopped down to make way for a new plantation, with durian seedlings planted across a hillside. This plantation is located next to a forest, where animals such as monkeys and exotic birds live.
For environmentalists, this poses as a threat to rainforests already facing difficulties from loggers and oil palm plantations. The agriculture ministry in Malaysia are enforcing that plantations will expand slowly and encourages growers to use existing orchards and revive unproductive trees.
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