PETALING JAYA: Despite the prolonged drought earlier this year that affected northern Malaysia, leading to low water levels in dams and dry rivers, Muda Agricultural Development Authority (Mada) reported an increase in yield for the first padi planting season.
Mada general manager Kamarudin Dahuli said that surveillance showed an average yield of 5.11 tonnes per hectare for the first padi planting season of 2024 compared with 4.86 tonnes per hectare during the same period last year.
This is based on the harvest of 84.1ha, which is 0.3% of the total 100,641ha under cultivation.
“Mada remains committed to improving programmes aimed at increasing padi yields in the Muda region in Kedah, ensuring the national food supply remains secure and the socioeconomic status of farmers continues to improve,” Kamarudin said when contacted.
The first padi planting season in the Mada area for 2024 began on April 17.
“However, Mada does not anticipate significant changes in yield as the Muda region is not facing water supply issues that could affect padi output,” he added.
Kamarudin noted that current rainfall in the Muda region showed an increase compared to last month.
According to the Malaysian Meteorological Department, La Nina is expected to start between August and October, and continue until early 2025.
Kamarudin said that water storage simulations of the three dams under Mada in Kedah indicated that its reservoirs could still meet irrigation needs for the first padi planting season as well as domestic and industrial demand.
He said Mada has taken proactive measures to meet irrigation needs by maximising pump stations to save water from dams.
Mada is also operating mobile pumps to supply water to highlands and problematic areas.
It is also conducting rotational irrigation based on the needs of each phase of cultivation.
Additionally, Mada is intensifying outreach campaigns to expedite padi farming activities and water conservation, Kamarudin added.
Meanwhile, Farmers Area Organisations’ Pendang Selatan chairman Abdullah Mohamad said as Kedah experienced more rainfall over the past week, farmers will start soil fertilisation next week.
He said if the soil absorbs the nutrients well, rice planting could commence by mid-September.
He said in his several decades of rice farming, it is the second time he has encountered such a prolonged drought – the first being in the 1980s.
He estimated that farmers in the area have lost about RM700,000 due to the drought.
