Malaysia

General Information

· Main climates: Tropical Wet

· Total land area: 32 850 000 ha

· Internal renewable water resources: 456 km³

· GNP per capita, 1998: PPP$ 7 699

· Main food consumed: Rice, Oil & Fat, Sugar & Honey, Wheat, Meat

· Rice supply, 1999: 132.5 kg paddy/capita/year

Basic Statistics

Producing Zones and Cropping Seasons

Rice is grown on the Malaysia Peninsular and on Borneo Islands. About 300 500 hectares on Malaysia Peninsular and 190 000 hectares on Borneo Islands are devoted to rice production. Following table shows the rice-harvested areas in different provinces.

The temperature regime and the rainfall distribution in the country are suitable for year round cultivation of rice, even under rainfed conditions. However, most farmers plant and harvest rice more or less during the same period. The following table shows the cropping seasons in the country

Production Practices

The following figure shows the harvested areas from different rice ecologies during 1995-2000 period.

Major irrigation schemes for double cropping of rice are Muda and Kemubu Schemes in Malaysia Peninsula. Irrigated rice production has a good level of mechanisation. Land preparation is mostly done with tractors. Manual transplanting was the dominant method for rice crop establishment in lowland rice in the past. However, since 1984, farmers have shifted to direct seeding by broadcasting germinated seeds to wet soils or by drilling non-germinated seeds in line to dry soils. Today, more than 90 percent of lowland rice crops are direct seeded. Also, at present, most of the activities in lowland rice production are mechanised. More than 6,000 rice varieties and/or lines have been collected. A large number of improved rice varieties have been developed and released for cultivation. The improved varieties for irrigated and rainfed lowland rice are very popular with farmers.

· Known planted irrigated and rainfed lowland varieties

Variety C4-63 is planted in upland rice ecologies. No or little fertilizer is applied to upland rice, which is grown under slash-and-burn shifting cultivation, mostly on the Borneo Islands. In irrigated rice, farmers, under input subsidy programmes, used to apply high doses of fertilizers. Field trials on responses of rice to fertilizer application indicated that in most cases, rice responded significantly to nitrogen fertilizer application up to 80 - 120 kg N/ha. Only in a few places responses to application 30 kg P2O5/ha was obtained and no response to potassium application was reported, except in Kada.

Constraints and Issues of Sustainable Production

• Weed competition, especially red rice.

• Important rice insects are brown plant hopper (BPH) and stem borers.

• Major diseases: blast, rice tungro virus (caused by green leafhopper), and sheath blight.

• Shortage of labor.

• Salinity is a problem in some low-lying areas.

• High production costs.

The following table shows the rice production costs.

Rice production thus far has satisfied the government policy of obtaining 60 percent self-sufficiency. The low income from rice production, however, needs to be improved. This could be obtained with the introduction of the new crop management concept and practices that increase the productivity of rice production activities. The development of high yielding varieties with good grain quality could substantially contribute to the improvement of rice farmers' incomes.

Research and Development Institutes

· Ministry of Agriculture, Wisma Tani Jalan Sultan Salahuddin 50624 Kuala Lumpur, Phone: (603)-298-2011 Fax: (603)-291-7991

· National Padi and Rice Authority, 21st Floor, Perkim Building, Ipoh Road, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

· MARDI Seberang Perai, P.O. Box 203, Kepala Batas, Penang 13200, Malaysia.

· Alor Setar-Gajah Research Station, 06400 Alor Setar Kedah Phone: (04) 782-1200

· Bumbong Lima Agriculture Institute 13209 Kepala Batas Penang Phone: (04) 575-1901 Fax: (04) 575-1901

· Department of Agriculture Menara Khidmaf 88632 Kota Kinabalu, Sabah Phone: (088) 55155 Fax: (088) 239046

· Department of Agriculture Jalan Kuching By-Pass 93632 Kuching, Sarawak Phone: (082) 254111 Fax: (082) 26879

· Kemubu Agricultural Development Authority P.O. Box 127 Jalan Dato Lundang 15710 Kota Bahru Kelantan Phone: (09) 744-1053 Fax: (09) 744-2237

· MARDI Jalan Kebun Research Station, P.O. Box 186 41720 Klang Selangor Phone: (03) 321-1587

· MARDI Research Station P.O. Box 105 05710 Alor Star Kedah Phone: (04) 721482

· MARDI Research Station 45500 Tanjung Karang Selangor Phone: (03) 879-8055

· MARDI Research Station D/A Pertubuhan Peladang Tanjung Piandang 34250 Kerian Perak Phone: (04) 725-6299

· MARDI Research Station, 32800 Parit Perak Phone: (05) 377-1144

· MARDI Research Station P.O. Box 203 13200 Seberang Perai Penang Phone: (04) 575-1584

· MARDI Research Station Bukit Raya P.O. Box 1 06707 Pejabat Pos Pendang Pendang Kedah Phone: (04) 924-6213

· MARDI Research Station Kubang Keranji P.O. Box 154 15710 Kota Bharu Kalantan Phone: (09) 765-2170

· MARDI Research Station Telong P.O. Box 186 15720 Kota Bharu Kelantan Phone: (09) 778-8577

· Ministry of Agriculture Wisma Tani, Jalan Sultan Salahuddin 50624 Kuala Lumpur Phone: (3) 298-9033 Telex: 08433045 TANIAN MA Fax: (060-3) 291-3758

· Muda Agricultural Development Authority Ampang Jajar 05990 Alor Star Kedah Phone: (04) 728255 Fax: (04) 731-2667

· Semongok Agriculture Institute 13th Mile Kunching-Serian Road 93250 Serian Sarawak Phone: (082) 611341 Fax: (082) 611662

· Tuaran Agriculture Research Station 89207 Turan Sabah Phone: (088) 788436

· Universiti Pertanian Malaysia 43400 Serdang, Selangor Phone: (03) 948-6101 Fax: (03) 948-3244