Increasing padi yield

Upping average yields in Kedah includes professional management over vast tracts of rice fields.

KEDAH may be known as the National Granary (Jelapang Padi Negara), but this title actually masks a multitude of problems faced by the country’s largest rice producing state.

One main problem is the low productivity of the smaller fields in the 112,858ha rice growing area, especially when measured against the country’s most productive plots, which typically give more than seven tonnes per hectare. A poorly managed rice field in Kedah could yield as little as two tonnes, compared to the national average yield of around four tonnes per hectare.