Johor has 10 padi fields covering an area of 2,245ha managed by 875 farmers. — Filepic
JOHOR has suggested to Agriculture and Food Security Ministry that the setting up of a southern region Integrated Agricultural Development Area (Iada) will help increase rice production in the southern peninsula states.
State agriculture, agro-based industry and rural committee chairman Datuk Zahari Sarip said padi fields in Johor were smaller than those in Selangor, Perak, Penang, Kedah, Kelantan and Terengganu.
“We have about 10 padi fields covering an area of 2,254ha, including fields in Tangkak (842.97ha), Muar (364.2ha), Mersing (549.3ha), Batu Pahat (141.7ha) and Kluang (356.1ha) that are managed by 875 farmers.
“The March harvest was 5,581 metric tons or an average of 3.86 metric tons per hectare.
“There was a 10.3% decrease because of floods that hit Sawah Kesang Tasek, Sawah Telok Rimba, Sawah Ring and Endau.
“Although Johor has the status of ‘Padi Luar Jelapang’ (outside the main padi farming area), the state government’s focus for empowering the padi farming industry remains a priority,” he said during the state assembly sitting at Bangunan Sultan Ismail in Kota Iskandar.
Zahari said this in his reply to Rashidah Ismail (BN-Pasir Raja) and Sahrihan Jani (BN-Gambir), who asked about efforts to increase rice production in Johor.
Zahari says a southern region Iada will ensure sustainable development of padi fields.
Zahari also revealed that he had visited Selangor Iada on Oct 25 last year to examine the model of rice cultivation in the state’s northwest.
On that working trip, he had been accompanied by related agencies such as the Johor Agriculture Department, Lembaga Pertubuhan Peladang (LPP), Department of Agriculture, Malaysian Agricultural Research and Development Institute (Mardi), Federal Agricultural Marketing Authority (Fama) and JBiotech.
Following this, the Johor government proposed the setting up of a southern region Iada which would focus on sustainable development of padi fields in the area.
“Across the country, there are 12 Iada such as Iada northwest Selangor, Iada Rompin, Iada Kerian and Iada Penang,” he said.
However, as at least 3,000ha was needed to set up an Iada, Zahari said the state government was mooting the idea of combining padi fields in Johor with those in Melaka and Negri Sembilan.
He added that PLANMalaysia had held an engagement session towards creating a southern rice bowl.
“We hope our suggestion can be considered as the benefits of merging padi fields in the three states will have a big impact on the padi industry development of the southern region.
“Among the benefits would be the optimal use of resources towards increasing the region’s padi and rice production as well as the transformation of the agro-food sector,” he added.
