PARIT: More than 400 ha of padi cultivation in Lambor Kanan have been affected by hot weather, preventing farmers from starting the second planting season scheduled for this month.
Perak Malaysian Farmers’ Brotherhood Organisation (Pesawah) chairman Azhar Hashim said the organisation was informed that the problem had been ongoing since the beginning of the year and was caused by the breakdown of two pumps at Lambor Kanan pump house.
This has affected the water supply from Sungai Perak to the padi cultivation areas in the affected locations.
“The situation has caused the growth of padi to be stunted because the plants do not receive sufficient water supply.
“Farmers should have finished harvesting the first season’s crop in March and started the second planting season this month (July).
“However, water supply problems have disrupted the planting schedule, causing them to lose an entire crop season,” he said, Bernama reported.
Azhar hoped the pump problem could be resolved soon because it would affect the livelihood of the padi farmers who depend entirely on the produce of the crop.
Perak Tengah district community development chairman Nordin Abdul Malek has proposed for a task force be set up to coordinate actions to address issues of water supply, irrigation systems and padi farmers’ needs more comprehensively.
“We are expected to experience El Nino this month. This committee can act as the main coordinator to ensure preventive measures and immediate action can be taken before the problem becomes more serious,” he said.
Nordin said the matter needed to be given serious attention, raising the concern that more farmers were losing interest after facing repeated losses due to various challenges including weather problems and production costs.
