Malaysia to export rice in two years’ time

The Star 20 Aug 09;

JOHOR BARU: Malaysia will able to export rice when the new padi cultivation areas in Sabah and Sarawak produce the crop within the next two years.

Infrastructure work on the 12,140ha in Kota Belud and 16,187ha in Setumbin-Bijat padi cultivation areas has already started, said Deputy Agriculture and Agro-based Industries Minister Datuk Rohani Abdul Karim.

“The country will be able to export the rice from the new padi hybrid that produces six tonnes of rice per hectare.

“Also, more Malaysians, especially the younger people, are reducing rice intake in their diet,” she said.

The additional rice production from Sabah and Sarawak would reduce dependency on traditional sources such as Thailand and Vietnam.

At present, Malaysia imports 30% of its rice. Under the National Guarantee Supply Policy 2008-2010, the country can be considered self-sufficient if it can produce 86% of its needs.

“However, the Government wants to bring the figure down to 80% by 2010,” Rohani said in a press conference here on Wednesday.

She added the Government lowered the target from 86% to 80% due to several factors - such as the hike in the crude oil prices last year and less land available in the peninsula for rice cultivation.

Rice bowl projects give hope of exports
Satiman Jamin, Straits Times 20 Aug 09;

JOHOR BARU: Malaysia will not only achieve complete self-sufficiency in rice production, but could even become a rice exporter once the rice bowl projects in Sabah and Sarawak are fully implemented.

The combined size of the rice bowls is l Larger than the area of Singapore, and is located in Setumbin-Bijat in Sarawak and Kota Belud in Sabah.

They would propel Malaysia into the league of global rice exporters.

Agriculture and Agro-based Industry deputy minister Datuk Rohani Abdul Karim said the country's rice self-sufficiency level (SSL) was currently at 76 per cent and the ministry was upbeat about increasing it to 80 per cent next year.

She said although the SSL fell to 72 per cent during the recent fuel price crisis, the government was able to improve the local rice production through the National Food Security Policy 2008-2010.

"We had focused on rice production as it is the staple food in the country.

"As the rice production areas in Peninsular Malaysia could not be expanded any more, the government had decided to develop new rice bowl areas in Sabah and Sarawak."

She said the new padi planting areas will cover a total of 70,000ha, which would translate into 420,000 tonnes of rice production per season based on the current national output of six tonnes per hectare.

"It shows that once the rice bowl projects in Sabah and Sarawak were in full production, we will produce more rice than we consume.

"This would enable us to be a net rice exporter instead of being an importer currently."

However, she declined to give a time frame for the projects' completion as many infrastructure and supporting projects need to be completed before the projects could get off the ground.

A check with the ministry website showed that next year, Malaysia will need to increase rice production by 305,000 tonnes to be 100 per cent self-sufficient because the projected rice production figure stood at 1.92 million tonnes compared to the consumption figure of 2.225 million tonnes.

If the new rice bowls were in full-production by then, it would mean a total of 115,000 tonnes of surplus rice that could be exported.