Day: June 14, 2011

By Stephanie Sta Maria | June 14, 2011
Free Malaysia Today

PETALING JAYA: An academic from the Faculty of Agriculture in Universiti Pertanian Malaysia (UPM) cast doubt on the necessity for the proposed Tambatuon dam in Kota Belud.

According to Christopher Teh, the dam is not the sole means to increasing Malaysia’s rice productivity as there was still plenty of room to increase the yields of existing paddy fields.

“Each field has a maximum potential yield of 10 tonnes per hectare but the current national average only stands at 4 tonnes per hectare per year,” he said.

“I’m not against increasing land acreage but between that and increasing the yields, the latter is a better choice. Let’s use what we already have instead of opening up new paddy fields and incurring higher costs.”
Continue reading “‘Tambatuon dam is unnecessary’”

By Iskandar Basha Abdul Kadir

Yb Rahman,

I had opined that our existing acerage in Malaysia can be used to fully meet our rice security consideration (i.e to overcome the 35% shortage) provided our Yield (Mt/hectare) can be increased to 5.0. The 5.0 yield factor is backed by research materials that you had referenced in your report.

In your rebuttal to my June 4, 2011 feedback, you have clearly acknowledged this point albeit you put it as “I wish it was that simple. Here is the reason”.

You said the current yield average of 3.3mt per hectare is for the whole country and production yield differs based on location. In summary, you had alluded to point out that production locations in Peninsular Malaysia(PM) are already yielding at 5.0 or higher and has little room for additional yield. The national average, however, drops to 3.3 due to the low yeilds in East Malaysia(EM) and Kota Belud being one. I quote “However, our national paddy production yield average has been dragged down by low yield areas namely in Sabah and Sarawak!”
Continue reading ““Yield Considerations” – Iskandar replies to Kota Belud MP Rahman on Tambatuon Dam controversy”