Sub-Sectors
Paddy Farming
There is significant potential to improve the productivity of the paddy sector from the current yield level of 3-5 tonnes per hectare to around 8 tonnes per hectare by 2012, and 9-10 tonnes per hectare by 2020, if current limitations such as poor irrigation infrastructure are addressed. This would raise paddy farmers’ income levels and achieve the national paddy self-sufficiency goal.
Paddy Clusters
Specific initiatives to improve paddy yields and increase farmers’ incomes will include:
- Producing high-yielding seed germplasm for paddy in the Seeds R&D Centre
- Expanding the number of certified seed farmers
- Gazetting core granary areas to protect paddy lands from being used for non-food purposes
- Implementing an integrated agricultural programme to diversify and increase paddy farmers’ incomes, for example, getting them involved in the cultivation of fish in irrigation canals and the planting of fruit trees or cash crops along paddy bunds
- Increasing value-add from paddy by promoting downstream uses for rice bran, straw and husks
- Improving farmers’ incomes by encouraging those situated in areas that lack comprehensive irrigation to convert to other crops
Fisheries and Aquaculture
The Northern Corridor is endowed with a number of factors that make fisheries and aquaculture a viable economic activity, including the availability of diverse fish species and geographical advantages such as a 700km coastline and several rivers and freshwater sources. The Ministry of Agriculture has identified 217 hectares of land in Perlis and 202 hectares of land in Ulu Lenggong, Kedah as suitable for aquaculture activities.
Fisheries and Aquaculture Clusters
Specific initiatives to promote fisheries and aquaculture include:
- Setting up a national hatchery centre in Kedah, specialising in the breeding of premium fish fry for either food or ornamental purposes
- Encouraging the setting up of a deep sea fishing industry together with fish-processing plants in Kuala Perlis
- Zoning selected coastal areas for the rearing of fish and shellfish in cages
- Deepening irrigation canals to enable aquaculture activities
Animal Husbandry
Livestock farming is currently performed by smallholders. To improve the competitiveness of the domestic meat products industry, livestock farmers will be encouraged to change from grazing to feedlots as the method to feed their cattle or goats. The National Feedlot Centre in Gemas provides an opportunity to source cattle and goats for the feedlot programmes. Agricultural waste products such as straw, plant greens and palm kernel cake can be utilised as animal feedstock. Animal husbandry will be promoted in clusters to ensure sufficient scale in the provision of slaughtering, processing and distribution facilities.
Animal Husbandry
The promotion of animal husbandry will help to reduce Malaysia’s dependency on meat imports and create supplementary income sources for farmers in between planting and harvesting cycles.
Specific initiatives to promote livestock farming include:
- Using the National Feedlot Centre in Gemas as the “nucleus” and breeding source for young calves, to then create economically-sized feedlot systems at the village and district levels
- Converting under-utilised industrial estates into specialised premium livestock parks. These will be niche, high-technology production areas focusing on premium food products such as ostrich, deer and free-range poultry
- Creating halal processing centres in Sg Petani, Tasik Gelugor and Padang Besar specialising in processed meat products for export
Fruit and Vegetables
The planting of fruit, vegetables and herbs or spices will be encouraged in areas where there is idle land. This will generate new sources of income for farmers and increase sources of export growth for Malaysia.
Fruits and Vegetables
Specific initiatives to promote fruit and vegetable farming include:
- Producing high-quality seed germplasm through research conducted in the Seeds R&D Centre
- Teaching and encouraging paddy farmers to intersperse fruit trees and cash crops around irrigation channels and paddy bunds
Herbs, Horticulture and Premium Speciality Food Products
The global horticulture market was valued at USD80 billion in 2004. Perak and Pulau Pinang currently have 110 hectares dedicated to the farming of ornamental plants and flowers, and this has the potential to be enhanced, creating new employment opportunities and export markets for the country.
Herbs, Horticulture and Premium Speciality Food Products
Specific initiatives to promote herbs, horticulture and premium speciality foods include:
- Developing niche areas for the farming of premium speciality crops. These products generally require controlled and sterilised environments such as greenhouses. Therefore, several unutilised industrial estates will be converted for such purposes
Commercial Crops: Rubber and Oil Palm
companies, whilst around 20,000 hectares are planted with rubber, predominantly undertaken by smallholders. Crude palm oil production is largely absorbed by the oleochemicals and edible oil industries in Seberang Prai, and the palm oil upstream and downstream sectors in the North are mature and well established. In contrast, the rubber industry as a whole is fragmented with many small players scattered close to rubber planting areas. Main rubber production includes Standard Malaysian Rubber (SMR) and latex concentrates, used primarily in the production of gloves, rubber threads, tyres and tubes.
Efforts will be undertaken to increase smallholders’ income levels and increase sub-sectoral growth through downstream activities.
Commercial Crops: Rubber and Oil Palm
Specific initiatives include:
- Encouraging Federal Land Development Authority (FELDA) and professional plantation companies to disseminate modern agronomic practices that can help raise smallholders’ income levels as part of their Corporate Social Responsibility initiatives
- Introducing mixed-farming methods (e.g. livestock cultivation) within oil palm and rubber estates to increase income levels
- Evaluating the replanting and new planting of high-yield rubber trees and trees with larger trunks which are more suitable for the rubber wood industry
- Encouraging the cultivation of plantation forests in idle, less fertile and hilly terrain
- Establishing wood product parks to enable sharing of common equipment such as kiln-drying equipment and finishing equipment