Challenges
Improving the scale of agricultural activities
Currently, with the exception of commercial crops such as oil palm which is cultivated by corporations, most agricultural activities are done by smallholders, as observed in paddy and livestock farming. Paddy is typically cultivated by smallholders with an average farm size of 1.06 hectares. In contrast, in countries such as Australia, 400 hectares would be cultivated by a family of four. The small-scale farming observed in the North results in inefficiencies, high production costs, inconsistent quality of output and ultimately low levels of yield and income for the farmers. Low incomes, in turn, lead to limited capacity to make the investments required for water management systems and machinery, to improve land productivity.
Improving marketing and distribution channels
Lack of scale and the inability to provide a constant, large supply of produce that meets quality standards in turn results in marketing challenges. Fruit, vegetable and livestock farmers currently do not have the capability to directly market to large hypermarkets, supermarkets, manufacturers and retailers which ensures continuous demand for their produce. Farmers market their produce mostly through local markets or pasar tani, the Federal Agriculture Marketing Authority (FAMA) or middlemen. This impacts the offtake and price the farmers are able to secure.
Improving the use of technology and good agricultural practices
Despite the Government’s effort in providing assistance to farmers by sharing modern agricultural practices, technologies and better planting materials through the various government agencies such as the Department of Agriculture, Federal Land Consolidation and Rehabilitation Authority (FELCRA), Malaysian Agricultural Research and Development Institute (MARDI) and MADA, the rate of adoption of progressive technology and agronomy practices among farmers is low. This is a contributing factor towards lower yields (e.g. when practices such as the direct seeding method are used). In addition, the low level of technical skills affects the ability to comply with international standards such as Good Agricultural Practices (GAP).
Other than paddy farming, livestock farms owned by smallholders typically do not comply with international requirements such as the Veterinary Health Mark (VHM), Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points (HACCP) and Good Animal Husbandry Practices (GAHP) due to the lack of awareness and capability to fulfil the requirements stipulated. This reduces the export potential of agricultural produce and reinforces marketing issues.
Improving infrastructure
Limitations of the irrigation and water management infrastructure is a reason why the paddy yield within the Northern Region remains low, despite the use of quality foundation paddy seeds such as the MR84, MR167, MR 185, MR219, MR220 and MRQ50.
Improvements to irrigation and water management infrastructure will therefore be one of the key initiatives required in order to increase agricultural yields, particularly for paddy. While paddy farming areas under MADA and IADP are generally irrigated, there are around 40,000 hectares of paddy farms outside these agencies’ purview which are not irrigated, leading to dependency on rainfall, supporting only one planting cycle per year with generally lower yields of three tonnes or less.
Main crops currently cultivated in NCER are paddy, rubber, oil palm and sugar cane
The main challenge for agriculture in NCER relates to the lack of large percels of contiguous agriculture land
