KOTA BHARU, April 4 – Climate Ready (CR) padi seeds that are more resistant to drought may be among the option for Kelantan farmers from further incurring losses.
Kemubu Agricultural Development Authority (KADA) chairman Muhammad Husain said the rice variety developed by Universiti Putra Malaysia was found to be very hardy and is able to survive in extreme hot weather.
He said as an initial project, KADA has planted this variety of rice on six hectares of padi fields at Muling in Padang Mokan, here, and the rice is currently 83 days old but is still fresh despite the absence of water for the past 35 days.
“The drought-resistant rice seed is currently under study and has undergone drought and hot weather tests for three seasons.
“Based on that observation, KADA will try to accelerate the cultivation of CR type of rice in this state more widely next year after getting the recognition from MARDI,” he said in a statement.
Muhammad said the results of his previous visit to the CR rice farm site found that the variety is believed to be the trigger for the rise of a new model farmer in the future.
“I see that there is a way out of this crisis and I hope that farmers can continue to improve their rice yields after this.
“We hope the seed selection process is done as soon as possible to help farmers so that they can improve their profits after experiencing a bitter time this season,” he said.
Commenting further, KADA plans to take the matter to the Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security to examine the type of rice to be planted in the coming season.
He also explained that the extreme drought over the past few years also had an impact on the rice crop in Kelantan, resulting in a reduction in the harvest.
