KUCHING: A 20-year land sublease of 143 hectares to Onemas Agriculture opens up opportunities to expand hybrid paddy production in Sarawak, directly supporting efforts to boost the state's rice Self-Sufficiency Level (SSL) to 60 per cent by 2030.

Minister for Food Industry, Commodity and Regional Development Sarawak Dato Sri Dr Stephen Rundi Utom said the cooperation via a Sublease Memorandum between LCDA Agri Business and Onemas Agriculture enables land owned by the Land Custody and Development Authority (LCDA) in Meradong to be developed for paddy cultivation utilising modern technology and mechanisation.

He explained that private sector involvement is vital to increasing paddy yield production, given that Sarawak's current rice SSL stands at only around 21 per cent.

“This is the future direction of paddy cultivation in Sarawak. We need to adopt new technologies to achieve higher yields and increase overall production.

“The government will provide the infrastructure, while the operators manage operations. Public-private partnerships are crucial to ensuring the success of this endeavor,” he said.

He said this during a press conference after witnessing the signing ceremony of the Sublease Memorandum between LCDA Agri Business and Onemas Agriculture here on Tuesday.

During the press conference, he disclosed that the hybrid paddy cultivation approach implemented by Onemas Agriculture shows immense potential, as the initial harvest recorded 11.08 metric tonnes per hectare, significantly surpassing traditional farming methods which typically yield around 1.5 to two metric tonnes per hectare.

In a related development, Dato Sri Dr Stephen Rundi also revealed that the Sarawak Government has allocated RM1 billion for the development of the paddy industry, alongside identifying approximately 14,000 hectares of potential land for development.

“We will kickstart this project using 2,000 hectares of state government land to allow implementation under the existing 'Design, Build, Operate, and Transfer' (DBOT) scheme,” he added.

Also present at the ceremony were Minister for Education, Innovation and Talent Development Sarawak Dato Sri Roland Sagah Wee Inn, Deputy Minister for Food Industry, Commodity and Regional Development Sarawak Datuk Martin Ben, Meradong Assemblyman Datuk Ding Kuong Hiing, Permanent Secretary to the Ministry of Food Industry, Commodity and Regional Development Sarawak (M-FICORD) Datu Sirai Daha, General Manager of LCDA Datu Sr Zaidi Mahdi, Director of Agriculture Sarawak Datu Dominic Chunggat, and other distinguished guests. — UKASnews

Prepared by: Jonnie Kiew
Photos: Zulfadli
Translator: Ryan Lim