27-04-2025
Better rice yields this year than last
PETALING JAYA: The authorities in the country's two largest rice-planting regions are expecting a better harvest this year compared to last year when extreme weather destroyed over 17,600ha of the crop.
Muda Agricultural Development Authority (Mada) and Kemubu Agricultural Development Authority (Kada), which are responsible for the Kedah-Perlis and Kelantan rice bowls respectively, say they have put in place several measures to increase yields, repair damaged farms and reduce the impact of floods and droughts.
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Kada chairman Khalid Abdul Samad said droughts in the first planting season of 2024 had hampered the farmers' work in all of the 26,664ha the body oversees.
'Only 55% of farms under Kada were able to sow their crops during that season,' Khalid said in an interview.
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But Kada's strategies are expected to increase padi harvests from 150,393 tonnes in 2024 to 215,000 tonnes this year.
In the Kedah-Perlis rice-planting region, Mada is also optimistic about achieving better harvests this year although it declined to give an estimate.
'It is important that farmers, researchers and the government work together on strategies that are necessary to reduce the impact of weather changes on the sector to ensure that rice yields and incomes are not jeopardised,' Mada chairman Datuk Dr Ismail Salleh told The Star.
The over 100,600ha that Mada oversees is expected to produce an average of 5.58 tonnes per hectare after the latest planting season ended on April 16, he said.
Another planting season is expected to begin at the end of this month, but Mada did not provide an estimate of its yield.
'Mada believes that the padi harvest this year will be better than the year before,' Ismail said.
'We continue to be committed in all efforts to improving programmes aimed at increasing harvests to ensure that the nation's food supplies are secure, lifting farmers' socio-economic status.'
Last year, extreme weather caused droughts and floods to destroy more than 17,657ha of crop in Kedah, Perlis and Kelantan, two of the largest rice-planting areas in Malaysia.
ALSO READ: Padi yields affected by erratic weather
Collectively, the rice farms that Mada and Kada supervise produce about 50% to 54% of this staple grain for Malaysians.
For this year, both authorities have started measures to boost yields and mitigate the impact of floods and droughts when they happen.
For Mada, this involves expanding its large-scale padi-planting project from 10,753ha to 13,103ha.
'The project allows farms to be centrally managed on a large scale so that costs can be optimised and yields increased,' Ismail said.
Besides upgrading farm infrastructure such as irrigation systems, Mada is also fertilising and rehabilitating soil in its farms.
Other ongoing efforts include:
• Transferring high-yield technology to farmers through workshops and on-the-field training.
• Effective pest monitoring and control programmes.
• Large-scale weed control and eradication focusing on padi angin, sambau and keladi agas.
In Kelantan, Kada is repairing sheet piles that had been damaged in the previous floods to ensure that there will be enough water in Sungai Kelantan so that pumps can distribute water to farms, Khalid said.
'We are also maintaining alternative support pumps that will be brought to farms so that water can be supplied from alternative sources besides irrigation canals,' he added.
Kada's other measures include:
• Working with the Kemasin Semarak Integrated Agricultural Development Area to ensure that downstream drainage operations are working effectively to reduce floods.
• Getting farmers to abide by optimal planting schedules so growing and harvesting can be done before the rainy season.
• Encouraging the use of quick- maturing padi varieties such as MR220CL2 that can be harvested within 97 days compared to 120 days for the conventional types.
