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| Roselan Johar Mohamed |
KOTA KINABALU: The Sabah Bumiputra Chamber of Commerce (SBCC) is organising a trade visit to the Philippines next month with a view to holding further discussions with the proponents of a high-yielding hybrid rice variety.
In disclosing this, chairman of BIMP-EAGA Malaysia Business Council Roselan Johar Mohamed said the trip would clearly explain the system of planting and highlight the bottom line.
“Anybody who is interested may register their name with the chamber (at tel: 088 486551) and travel at their own expenses.
“If the numbers are right, we hope the Sabah government can allocate a further 121.5 hectares (300 acres) of suitable land for this first pilot project, and the business council will find the private sector investors for this purpose,” he told Bernama here yesterday.
Roselan, who is also SBCC treasurer, said the permanent secretary of the State Ministry of Agriculture and Food Industries Datuk Ujang Sulani is the head of the Malaysian delegation.
He said at the recently held natural resources and development cluster meeting of the Brunei Darussalam-Indonesia-Malaysia-Philippines East ASEAN Growth Area (BIMP-EAGA) in Balikpapan, Indonesia, a Philippine delegate highlighted the discovery of a high-yielding hybrid rice variety that can produce five tonnes per acre over a planting season of four months until harvesting.
Roselan said that this variety was discovered in 2002, and subsequently commercialised the same year in the Philippines. It has also been adopted for commercialisation in Indonesia, Vietnam, Bangladesh and recently in Myanmar and Cambodia.
He said it is very fortunate that the Sabah Ministry of Agriculture and Food Industries has adopted this rice variety, although details are very sketchy.
“It is hoped that after further deliberation in this BIMP-EAGA meeting, more Malaysian farms can readily adopt this hybrid rice for commercial planting,” he said.
He said hybrid rice production technology from SL Agritech Corporation was adopted and included in the Implementation Blueprint of the BIMP-EAGA food basket strategy designed to attain food sufficiency in the region.
The company is ready to provide the production technology for both seed production and commercial cultivation for BIMP-EAGA member countries, he said.
“They will even provide technical assistance during planting, and if required can outsource further manpower for the physical planting,” he added.
Roselan said the Brunei government plans to test grow the variety on about 200 hectares of irrigated land, adding he hopes the private sector in Sabah could also take up the challenge in view of the many hectares of idle paddy land in the state.
Hope that the Sabah Bumiputra Chamber of Commerce trade visit will bring good results on the discussion on hybrid rice variety.
ReplyDeleteIf the rice hybrid technology can be adopted by our state rice manufacturers, we might be able to improve the food security in the state.
ReplyDeletemanfaatkan peluang ini sebaik2nya untuk kebaikkan masa depan sabah.. tidak ada salahnya belajar daripada negara yang lebih dulu maju dalam bidang itu..
ReplyDelete