padi hybrid

BACHOK, Nov 15(Bernama) -- The government targets full hybrid padi cultivation by 2011 in efforts to increase padi production in the country.

Agriculture and Agrobased Industry Minister Datuk Mustapa Mohamed said Saturday that the ministry, through the Malaysian Agricultural Research and Development Institute (Mardi) and a private research company, RB Biotech Sdn Bhd, was now trying out the cultivation of hybrid padi in Tambun Tulang, Perlis, and Kampung Kuchelong here for at least a year before implementing it fully.

"This trial period is to ensure that the hybrid padi seed is really suitable for cultivation here. We want to see the yield and whether it will benefit the farmers.

"If it proves suitable, the government proposes to plant hybrid padi on 10,000ha to 30,000ha for five years under the Kemubu Agricultural Development Authority (Kada)," he told reporters after the harvest of hybrid padi in Bendang Kuchelong here.

He said the hybrid padi seed from China, which required hi-tech cultivation, could help the country achieve self-sufficiency in rice.

Production could be doubled to 10 to 15 tonnes per hectare from the five to eight tonnes per hectare using the inbrid method.

Inbrid cultivation used 80 to 200kg of padi seed per hectare compared with 20 to 25kg for hybrid cultivation which, could yield double the 100 grains per plant for inbrid padi, he said.

Mustapa said countries like Indonesia, Vietnam and China had proven that hybrid padi could double the yield, with production in Indonesia exceeding demand recently.

"We hope that farmers here are willing to acquire new knowledge and use technology in agriculture to improve agricultural production," he said.

-- BERNAMA