The Malaysian Insight

PADI farmers on Langkawi island have welcomed Putrajaya’s plan in Budget 2020 to make the island the country’s main producer of glutinous rice.

The plan would raise farmers’ incomes and make the island in Kedah more popular as an agricultural area and not just a tourist attraction.

They, however, told The Malaysian Insight that existing problems involving rice cultivation should be resolved first.

First is the red tape between several government agencies involved in the padi industry on the island, said Langkawi Farmers Association chairman Rasidi Saad.

“There are several agencies that have a say in rice production on Langkawi, including the Department of Agriculture, Draining and Irrigation Department (DID) and the Malaysian Agricultural Research and Development Institute (Mardi).

“But they don’t move in concert. For example, when farmers face an issue, any issue, the agriculture department comes to check the situation. But there’s no follow-up. Sometimes, the problem even gets pushed from agency to agency.

“It leaves the farmers very disappointed. If there are big plans to launch glutinous rice planting, then they better have a special body to monitor all agencies,” the 47-year-old told The Malaysian Insight.

Another problem, Rasidi said, is the lack of a rice mill on Langkawi, resulting in higher costs incurred to transport rice to Alor Star on the mainland.

“To get a tonne of padi to the mainland is RM75. In one year, with 10,000 to 11,000 tonnes of padi produced, the cost comes up to RM750,000,” he said.

Rashidi added that a mill on the island would go a long way towards helping resident farmers, as well as the tourism industry, which could include the mill as part of padi-farming tours.

RM30 million has been set aside to turn Langkawi into a glutinous rice producer, a move aimed at benefitting more than 1,200 farmers on the island, where Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad is MP.

A pilot project to plant glutinous rice started in August, at Kg Tok Bandar, using Mardi-produced varieties of glutinous rice.

The village’s glutinous rice project head, Dahlan Zain, 57, said the island has potential to be the main growth centre for the product but the authorities must first consult local farmers to understand their concerns.

Dahlan said Langkawi’s rice fields have been plagued with disease for the past two years from a kind of bacteria.

“In the early stages of planting, everything is okay. Then in the final stages before harvest, the rice suffers a bacterial attack.

“When we asked the agriculture department for an anti-bacterial solution, they were slow to provide it and the rice dried up. We had no harvest,” said Dahlan who has been a padi farmer since his youth.

He added that many farmers on the island are frustrated with the red tape.

“They can’t even follow simple things like the schedule for the distribution of poisons and fertilisers. When there is no yield, farmers get the blame.

“We farmers want to wait and see if the pilot project run on glutinous rice is successful before we come on board.”

The pilot project covers 38.9ha of padi land on the island. Langkawi has a total of 2,038ha for padi.

The project area includes Kg Ayer Hangat, Kg Padang Lalang, Teluk Kampung and Kg Ulu Melaka.

One of the farmers involved, Mohd Ridzwan Mat Arif, 44, from Kg Ulu Melaka, welcomed the project as a new economic opportunity.

Done right, he said, it would enable Malaysia to stop or reduce the import of glutinous rice from Thailand.

But he urged the government not to neglect other types of rice, noting that glutinous rice was more often used in side dishes rather than a staple food.

“We still need to grow the type of rice that are more commonly eaten, such as padi Jawa,” Ridzwan said.

Government agencies also need to improve the irrigation system in the fields, he added, besides looking into other frequent problems, such as flood damage, if the glutinous rice project is to be taken seriously.

Ridzwan, who has been a padi farmer since 2008, agreed that a central body to monitor and coordinate the various agencies involved in rice farming should be formed. – October 19, 2019.