Rice from the lab

The MP of Mambong in Sarawak, Dr. James Dawos Mamit just mesmerised me this morning. As I was switching the TV channels, I tuned into RTM 1 which was showing live telecast from the parliament. Dr. James was on air talking about the climate change and its effect on rice production. He was so full of facts.

I'm not really a rice eater. But topics on the shortage of food globally which include wheat (which is the ingredient to make pasta which I love a lot) and corn does attract my attention. So, I stayed tune to listen to what Dr. James has to say.

Dr. James was saying that if there's a change in temperature, it would hamper the growth of a rice crop. You'd get smaller grains or you may find that the paddy husk is empty when you harvest it. Therefore, the climate change has affected the production of rice all over the world. I supposed, we all know this fact already.

But what we don't know yet is, in Malaysia, Mardi apparently has conducted a lot of research on how to increase rice production locally. It seems, all the research are very fruitful. They've developed new rice species which could be harvested in a very short time. There are also rice species which eliminate the use of water. Thus, you don't need the traditional method of flooding the field to grow paddy for rice.

Dr. James highlighted that all these new species of rice should be passed on to the local farmers. This would expedite rice crops in the country.

This is so exciting. I hope Mardi will not wait any further to come forward and train the farmers to grow the new species of rice. Food is a national security. We must be able to grow sufficient food for local consumption.