Aerobic Rice Set To Change Malaysia's Paddy Growing Landscape

From Wan Shahara Ahmad Ghazali

This last part of two articles on MARDI's role in developing Malaysia's agro industry focuses on the potential of aerobic rice farming.

KUALA LUMPUR (Bernama) -- It takes 3,000 litres of water to put a kilogramme of rice on your table.

For a country with the staple food being rice, droughts and increasingly limited water resources can present a real challenge to its food security.

Fortunately, the Malaysian Agricultural Research and Development Institute (MARDI) has ventured into the research on aerobic rice farming in Malaysia since 2005.

Aerobic rice is a high-yielding plant that can grow in dry irrigated land instead of the traditional flooded fields.

The variety developed by MARDI is known as the MRIA 1, and was launched on Aug 22 last year.

This is a paradigm shift for the rice farming industry and a move that is timely and apt particularly with rice being a food security crop for the nation.

PUTTING NEGLECTED LAND TO USE

MARDI Director, General Datuk Dr Sharif Haron saw the possibility of MRIA 1 being grown on abandoned private lands nationwide that cover up to 107,000 hectares.

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Aerobic Rice Set To Change Malaysia's Paddy Growing Landscape