KUALA LUMPUR: El Nino, a naturally occurring climate pattern, is back after seven years, with experts warning that it may bring extreme weather from droughts to floods and record-breaking temperatures.
The young farmer, who has been growing padi on his 12ha family-owned plot of land over the past 11 years, did not expect the downpours to occur daily, as the phenomenon usually starts during the North-East Monsoon, that is, at the end of the year.Nearly 1ha of his crops was destroyed by the phenomenon, with estimated income losses of over six metric tonnes worth RM8,000 and these did not include plantation costs.
In July, India announced a ban on exporting non-basmati white rice to help lower rice prices and secure availability in India. The ban sent shockwaves through the global market, leading to a scramble for supplies and heightening concerns over food security. "As such, when water from the dam is released for the first season , you’ve got to wait for the North-East Monsoon to refill the dam so that there is enough water for the second rice cultivation starting from March to April.
"In my view, the issue is not related to farmers but the management of water dams as a lot of water needs to be released. Water from dams should be released in a prudent manner so that it can be stored for use in the next season,” he said. The higher BPI prices are expected to shift consumer demand for BPT when sole concessionaire Padiberas Nasional Bhd raised the wholesale price of BPI nationwide to RM3,200 per tonne from the previous RM2,350 per tonne, effective Sept 1.
The sudden climate change is among the reasons for the slight drop in the nation’s self sufficiency level for rice to 63% per cent in 2022 from 65% in 2021, said Institute of Tropical Agriculture and Food Security director Prof Dr Mohd Rafii Yusop from Universiti Putra Malaysia.
Several initiatives to resolve the rice supply shortage due to the weather challenges should be carried out, such as increasing the padi growing areas as well as stimulating padi field productivity through the best practices in padi cultivation. "A total of 2,393 farmers are under our supervision, and this year, 220 complained of falling sick due to the hot weather and 26 were admitted to the hospital.
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