THAT, is a very good plan, but are farmers conscripts in the army, that they have to forgo monitery richness?
ALL this, so that the politicians can have a good time patting themselves because each farmer can produce 10 tonnes per hectare, the nation will be 100 per cent rice self sufficient, and that Malaysia can be a net exporter of rice.
IT is exactly, this type of thinking, that every Malaysian Government seem to have, which has widened the income divide between city folks and rural Malaysia and in the rural areas between factory workers, construction labourers and the B40 farmers.
ADA mata, pandanglah. Ada otak GUNA lah. Anwar Ibrahim, I hope you are reading or if somebody, anybody will get this message to you.
PLEASE, understand READ : that 60 per cent of paddy farmers have an off farm second job, which most likely allows them to have EPF contribution benefits as well as a yearly bonus on top of a fixed and stable monthly salary.
THE policy maker, should then ask themselves this silly question,while taking into account the risk of floods, or insect attacks that could easily wipe out a years hard work which part and parcle of farming.
DOES, say even doubling the farmers output, is he or she going to make more money from paddy farming as opposed to the salary package of his or her off farm job?.
IF the answer is maybe, perhaps or even NO, then why not do the sensible thing. Allow the farmer, to keep his second job, and increase his earnings from the farm, even without the usage of any technology.
HOW do you do it? FIRST, do away with your obsession of self sufficiency and allow paddy farmers to grow different variants of paddy that can actually fetch a higher price both in Malaysia and abroad. READ : DAP to the PM Muhyiddin Yassin ; Allow lah Padi Farmers to Fragrant Rice, just don't keep forcing them to produce non premium rice
THEN, use your Internet of things and AI technology to improve on the yield. When it's worth the money, it will be worth the farmers toil.
PLEASELAH, start looking at it from the paddy farmers eyes, and while you are at it, I am sure there are many Malaysian entrepreneurs who will be more than willing to enter into joint venture with Paddy farmers, if they are allowed to say sell the premium rice to Singapore, for example.
