KOTA BELUD PADI FARMERS IN WATER DILEMMA

FLOODED…. Paddy field flooded by water.

By : DAP MEDIA

THE PROBLEM constantly faced by padi farmers in Kota Belud at the Jelapang Padi area always faced up with too much water or totally no water in many parts of their padi fields here. This caused their rice production dropped tremendously through out the past years. They cannot plant when there is flooding in the fields and worst so when there is no water at all.

This was highlighted to the Sabah DAP Kota Kinabalu Member of Parliament Hiew King Cheu and the Pakatan Rakyat team during their many visits to the area during the last few months.

It is obvious that the padi farmers had faced up with the serious problems here due to the inefficient and insufficient drainage and irrigation system in the area under the Jelapang padi zone, and their production and income deeply affected. It is a pity that you have land but cannot plant anything crops on it due to too much water or no water at all.

The main reason for having no water here is due to the lack of good irrigation pumps and channels to bring the water from the nearby streams and rivers to the fields which are higher than the usual river water level.

The planters brought the KK MP Hiew around the site to see the many pump houses installed along the rivers which are installed not far from the padi fields. Their function is to pump the water from the river onto the filed. Very unfortunately, all the pumps are out of function and broken down.

Many pump stations even had their parts being removed or stolen. The padi planters regretted by saying that they blamed the authorities for not helping them to repair the pumps and to get new or bigger pumps to be reinstalled here. They said if there are new pumps installed, they can plant any time because there will be enough water in the field from the nearby rivers.

IRRIGATION……The malfunctioning irrigation pump by the river side.

BROKEN….. Broken pump left unattended.

As on the flooding of the vast area of the fields available for the planting of padi, it is surely due to no proper drainage system in the area to drain away the excessive water accumulated in the field. There is an estimated some few thousand acres of the field being flooded and submerged in deep water.

“How to plant padi in a few feet deep of water,” claimed the villagers.

There many acres of land which can be cultivated if the land is pumped dry and provided with earth bunds and roads to protect these from being flooded. A series of earth bunds is necessary and the pump houses made ready to pump out the water from the field.

The padi planters urges the government to immediately install proper pumps and build irrigation channels to bring the water to their fields to enable them to plant the padi, and to earn an income for their family.

They also said they don’t want to wait for the proposed dam which they think is not needed at all. The water they need is just nearby and no need for the government to spend Billion of ringgit of money to bring the water to their fields, and may be just use a small sum of money, the water will flow into their field.

- Sabahkini