The King of Fruit will be given a brand name to reach out to the international market. Malaysia wants to raise the profile of the tasty durians sold in Segamat in Johor so that it has as much recognition as the Sunkist brand for oranges, the New Straits Times paper reported.

The Federal Agriculture and Marketing Authority (Fama) yesterday asked local farmers to tap on the durian's potential and emulate the success of Sunkist by giving the Segamat durian a brand name. Fama's director, Mr Ahmad Ishak, said: "The Johor brand name is well known locally and overseas.

"Since the Segamat durian is famous, we shall tap on its popularity by giving it a name, probably based on its place of origin."

So far, Malaysian-produced fruit like bananas,starfruit and mangoes have brand names that are recognized locally, the newspaper reported. Mr Ahmad said Fama would study the processes involved in giving the Segamat durian a brand name.

He said that one of the areas that need to be looked into was the need to ensure that only durians from Segamat would carry the brand name. Durian farmer Ahmad Harun felt the proposed branding exercise was a good move.

"Our durian is sought after in Singapore. Fruit sellers even tag our durian with the name of our village,"he said.