00:00A 67-year-old civil engineer, whose passion for agriculture drove him to dabble in paddy
00:05planting for the past 30 years, has now embarked on a new project – planting rice on floating
00:10platforms. Tan Pak Sueo said his method has produced positive results, as he was able to
00:16get double the yield of rice grown on the platforms compared to those that were grown on soil.
00:22Initial infrastructure cost of developing the conventional rice farming is quite high.
00:30Because it needs a source of water, it needs infrastructure for the roots, for the irrigation
00:37canal, for the drainage, and of course, all these water control structures. And at the same time,
00:44they need maintenance. But in this way, the maintenance is very little. And then the initial
00:48infrastructure cost is minimum, as long as we can find some low-lying area suitable. Then
00:55we either build a pond or build a bund to contain the water with about 1.5 metres deep.
01:00That's good enough. To me, instead of developing a new area for the rice farming, for the sake of
01:08increased food production, why not we think of an alternative way, which is a shortcut,
01:15and then also much faster to produce the rice. Thum, who has a civil engineering degree from
01:22University Malaya, said his passion for paddy cultivation started when he met his wife,
01:28who is from Sikinchan, which is famous for its highest paddy fields achieved in the country.
01:32So of course, at that time, they were using a conventional method.
01:37So in a sense, that's why I said, if we can commercialise it, I think that would be good.
01:43Of course, there are so many factors that we have to consider. First of all, land availability,
01:50the cost of development and infrastructure, because all the rice fields in Malaysia are
01:56developed by government. If you want to do it commercially, so you have to start with
02:00everything on your own, that would be very tough. He says, with his platform method,
02:05he was able to do three times planting and harvesting annually, and the yield was also
02:10much higher. His floating paddy platform is similar to cultivating fish in cages on a floating
02:15platform. Each platform is filled with high quality soil and planted with about 550 rice
02:21seedlings, and the soil is constantly moist, and this helps promote the plant growth.
02:26Thum, who is the founder of Koref Desaru Leisure Farm Sendirian Berhad in Desaru,
02:31said that presently, he has about 19 platforms in his pond, which were all planted with Malaysian
02:36Agricultural Research and Development Institute rice variety. Actually, it can be any type of
02:42grain also can, but the thing is that most importantly, of course, the type of grain that,
02:49first of all, whether it can marketable, you know, good market price or not. So, of course,
02:54the most convenient one that we just adopt our current Mardi, you know, bread variety. Because
03:02there can be many other varieties as well, you know, from any other country also can, but
03:08most importantly is that they must be, you know, economically adopted to the condition.
03:14He also plans to try with other varieties, including red and black glutinous rice.
03:19Growing up in an estate with eight other siblings, he has been tapping rubber since
03:23he was nine years old and is the only graduate in the family. We have to work and feed ourselves in
03:30the sand. So, there's so many, you see. And then luckily that also, fortunately in the sand that,
03:37so I was the one that able to make it to the university.
03:42Thom's first foray into paddy was in his early 30s, when he was asked to rehabilitate,
03:46including doing land clearing works and irrigation infrastructure for a 607 hectare rice field
03:52in Kuala Rumpin in Pahang in 1992. So, after I've been there for almost six years,
04:00so in 1998, then we moved to Kaham. Small rice irrigation area, then we rehabilitated there
04:09about 300 acres of the land area there. Thom hopes the government would help fund his
04:16floating platform technique as it could be a pilot project. Actually, to me, if our governments
04:24can, you know, adopt a brief and new way approach, I think there's a fantastic hope
04:32in the sand. Because we got, we got sunlight, we got water. In fact, we got low lying area.
04:38So, it's a matter that the, you know, government have a location, you know, to develop this thing.
04:44So, it will be surely successful. Thom says he is willing to collaborate with local farmers,
04:49especially the young, wanting to try out planting rice via floating platforms.
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