KOTA BELUD: A pilot rice-bowl project in Sabah covering 280ha in Keguraan near here is expected to overcome flooding and increase the crop’s yield in the area.
Upon completion of infrastructure projects involving drainage and irrigation facilities on Jan 5 next year, padi production in the area is expected to increase from 3.5 tonnes to 10 tonnes per ha.
Sabah Agriculture and Food Industry Minister Datuk Seri Panglima Yahya Hussin said the project would help the state increase rice self-sufficiency from the current 30%.
“Developed states with high rice production have good drainage and irrigation systems. This is what we will have in Keguraan. Canal density will increase to 50m from 20m per ha,” he told reporters after visiting the project site here.
The RM71.5mil project involving 28 rice-farming families was proposed in 2007 but implemented only in January last year.
Sabah Drainage and Irrigation Department handled the project with an allocation from the Agriculture and Agro-based Industry Ministry.
Yahya, who is also Deputy Chief Minister, said the project was delayed because of the time taken to negotiate with the land owners.
Asked whether the state had identified other areas in Kota Belud and other districts for the project, he said the focus for the time being was Kota Belud and the project might be carried out at other rice-farming areas like Kota Marudu, Beaufort, Membakut and Papar.
Yahya also visited the Tamu Darat Irrigation Scheme covering 182ha which would benefit 205 farmers in Kampung Pinasang/Tamu Darat, Ratau and Taginambur.
Earlier, during a visit to padi fields in Kampung Talantang and Kampung Mangkalua in Kota Marudu, Yahya said that levelling work on padi fields abandoned in April last year would resume soon and be completed in March.
A delay in the RM1.013mil project covering 382ha had adversely affected the income of 223 farmers in the area