THIS Leader is about padi farming, and all things attached to it. The good. The bad. And everything in between. And a good place to start is with the lament of a padi farmer, with much help from our national laureate, the late Shahnon Ahmad who weaves this wonderfully in his 1966 novel Ranjau Sepanjang Jalan:
“Stop the big floods that overflow my padi, Stop the long droughts that cake up my fields, Keep away the disasters that hinder us. Keep away the little white crabs that waste away our seedlings, Keep away the storms and typhoons.” Yes, padi farming in Kedah (and elsewhere too) is a story of thorns and harvests.
According to Khazanah Research Institute’s report The Status of the Paddy and Rice Industry in Malaysia, we consumed 80kg of rice per person, which is about 26 per cent of the total caloric intake per day, costing an average of RM44 per month per household. This is 2.7 million tonnes of rice a year. Troublingly, only 67 per cent of it comes from our own fields. Our rice fields must be made to produce more.
To produce more, a few things need doing. Firstly, a cure must be found to entice the smallholder farmers to “surrender” their small lots for aggregation. Size does matter.
People familiar with padi farming say rice fields must be at least five hectares in size. Anything less will be uneconomical. According to one estimate, a 5ha plot can produce six tonnes per hectare of padi generating 30 tonnes per season. This means a farmer with such a minimum plot can earn a gross income of RM45,000 per season or RM90,000 a year.
A way must be found to generate such a minimum plot. Plot sizes in the Muda Agricultural Development Authority (Mada) area in northern Peninsular Malaysia average about 2ha, far below the optimum size needed to make it economical. Mada has a choice: either amalgamate small plots to the optimum size or grow crops that will bring profit to such small plot owners.
Mada needs to work on something else too: density of infrastructure. Presently, Mada averages 18 metres per hectare and plans to increase the density to 30 metres per hectare. Sekinchan (Barat Laut Selangor), which has been receiving a lot of positive bromides, has an infrastructure density of 43 metres per hectare.
The answer to a higher padi yield in Sekinchan is in the density of infrastructure. Sekinchan came after Mada, but through no fault of Mada or farmers, must now play catch up on the density score.
Padi spells passion for rice farmers, especially in Kedah. Now the passion has “infected” some 6,000 young farmers in Mada who are working on plots between 10 and 15 hectares with modern machinery and new technology to boot.
Many of the young farmers are taking a lesson from Jaafar Zakaria’s test plot right opposite his house that serves as mini research institute for fellow farmers. Jaafar’s affection for all things padi is so deep that he has brought the rice plant to the door steps of his home.
Something good must come out of this.