‘Nation's rice bowl’: Kedah MB says state 'instructed' to be poor

The present and past Kedah state administrations had been subjected to federal policies on land use which led to high poverty rates, said Menteri Besar Muhammad Sanusi Md Nor.

In an interview with English-daily The Star, Sanusi (above) pointed to Kedah's status as one of Malaysia's rice bowls, aside from swathes of gazetted forest cover.

"We have a lot of land but we were ‘instructed’ to cultivate paddy. Paddy is the cheapest crop but also the most important crop.

"The land tax for paddy fields is the lowest. About 130,000 hectares are set aside for paddy cultivation alone," said Sanusi.

"I have brought it to the federal government to reconsider the sacrifice we have to make. We have to give up so much land for paddy cultivation.

"We also have to further gazette forests for water shedding – more than 300,000 hectares," said the Jeneri assemblyperson.

Currently ranked the second poorest state in the country after Kelantan, Sanusi noted how the PAS-led administration's policy on land use has been largely in the interest of all other states.

"We are therefore 'instructed' to be poor. Kedahans have a right to decide our future and we should be the ones deciding our objectives.

"We should not have to follow instructions from others on what we should do with our lands," he was quoted as saying.

Moving forward, Sanusi said he had suggested to the state excos for 20 percent of the land set aside for paddy cultivation to be redeveloped into industrial areas with potential higher land value and expected revenue.

This will come to approximately 26,000 hectares.

He said the reduction of land size for paddy cultivation should also be countered with more yield from the remaining fields by increasing the number of planting rounds. - Mkini