SYNOPSIS

Rice is a staple food for the people of Malaysia. With more than 600,000ha of planted area, current rice production can meet the national target of 70% self-sufficiency level (SSL). As the population increases, more rice has to be produce to at least meet the minimum SSL. It is expected that the area planted with rice will not change much and therefore more rice has to be produced by improving productivity.
Rice cultivation requires water either from rainfall or by irrigation and irrigation in Malaysia is synonym to rice cultivation. In a situation where either land or water resource are limited, adequate and reliable infrastructures as well as good irrigation management practices are very important and a prerequisite for sustainable rice production which is one of the programme under the Agriculture Transformation Programme.
Agriculture Transformation Programme is a component of the Malaysian Economic Transformation Plan aimed among others to ensure adequate food supply, increasing country GNI and farmers’ income. For rice production, the programme is executed under Entry Point Projects, EPP10 and EPP11 (Scaling up and strengthening productivity of paddy farming in MADA and Other Granaries) which emphasize on the provision of irrigation and drainage infrastructures, improvement of irrigation management and rice production management and incorporating of new technologies. Transformation in agricultural water management particularly in granary areas will support the modern and commercial rice production with higher productivity through higher yield and cropping intensity. The implementation will come together with challenges and the biggest is competition for water resource. Through appropriate water management strategies which will be incorporated in the Agriculture Transformation Programme, the available water for rice production will be used effectively and efficiently.

The implementation of Agriculture Transformation Programme is an avenue for Consulting Firm, Contractors and Suppliers to participate in the agro food sector towards achieving the national objective of becoming higher income nation by the year 2020.


BIODATA OF SPEAKER

Ir. Hj Jamil bin Shaari graduated in 1985 with Bachelor of Civil Engineering (Hons),  Uiversity  of Technology, Malaysia, 2007:  MSc Water Management, University Putra Malaysia (UPM). Presently, Principle Senior Assistant Director of Irrigation and Agricultural Drainage Division, Ministry of Agriculture and Agro based Industry, Malaysia with 28 years of working experience in various disciplines of engineering. Currently the Entry Point Project (EPP) 10 & 11are the main activities to achieve the objective of producing more rice to meet at least 70% SSL with more effective and efficient water usage. Implementation of the project will focus within the area designated as granaries.

The Treasurer of Malaysian National Committee on Irrigation and Drainage MANCID since February 2009, and also  the Profesional Engineer registered to Board of Engineers, Malaysia (BEM) and Institute of Engineers Malaysia (IEM).