Forests and food security

Precious: A 2019 drone image of Tasik Muda Lake with the dam at the bottom right of picture and Ulu Muda Forest Reserve in the ­background. — Filepic/The Star

THE granary of Kedah and Perlis is known as Malaysia’s rice bowl, or jelapang padi, as it contributes 40% of our national rice production. This is our food security area. If there are any untoward incidents, such as a geopolitical crisis, that prevents us from importing rice, this rice bowl will be our primary source of rice production.

In an effort to enhance this food security, the Malaysian government has increased a financial allocation of RM3bil in 2023 to RM5bil this year to upgrade irrigation systems in the Muda Agricultural Development Area (Mada) granary area. This is with the intention of increasing rice production capacity from four to five harvests over two years, against the present capacity of four times over two years.