KUALA LUMPUR: The Agriculture and Food Security Ministry is ready with various measures to mitigate the impact of the El Nino phenomenon on the agro-food sector, especially on the padi and rice sub-sector.
Its Deputy Minister, Datuk Arthur Joseph Kurup, said the ministry's agencies, including the Muda Agricultural Development Authority (Mada), the Kemubu Agricultural Development Authority (Kada), and the Integrated Agricultural Development Area (Iada), are taking measures to address the matter.
He said the measures include ensuring sufficient water supply in plantation areas by distributing backwards and mobile pumps to the farmers, constructing tube wells, repairing pump houses, increasing the number of perimeter drains and deepening existing drainage systems.
"If the need arises, the ministry is prepared to carry out cloud seeding in collaboration with the Malaysian Meteorological Department and the National Disaster Management Agency, Prime Minister's Department to increase rainfall over water catchment areas for rice cultivation," he said.
He was replying to a supplementary question raised by Datuk Siti Aminah Aching (BN-Beaufort), who wanted to know the government's efforts to face the El Nino phenomenon and the assistance provided to farmers during the question-and-answer session in the Dewan Rakyat on Monday (March 11).
According to him, farmers experiencing a decline in rice production due to unexpected weather changes can obtain cash assistance through the Rice Crop Disaster Fund by submitting an application to the Agriculture Department in their district and state.
He said farmers could receive RM876 per hectare for one to 70-day-old crops and RM1,800 for 71 to 120-day-old crops with a maximum limit of three hectares per planting season.
He said that the Agriculture Department would inspect the damage and verify the application based on the standard operating procedure before submitting it to the ministry's main committee at the ministry's level.
Meanwhile, he added that the Rice Crop Takaful Scheme, a pilot project to enable farmers to receive compensation due to natural disasters and disease outbreaks, is still in the planning stage and is expected to be launched on April 1. – Bernama
