Large scale effort towards self-sufficiency is work in progress

Waleed PD Mahdini

FOUR months ago, Brunei Darussalam’s goal towards achieving self-sufficiency in its local rice production received the highest boost possible when His Majesty the Sultan and Yang Di-Pertuan of Brunei Darussalam graced the event to mark the official naming of the local “Laila” rice variety and then consented to personally plant some paddy seedlings at the Wasan Paddy Planting Area in Kg Wasan. The message was clear — for the sake of our future generations tomorrow, food security for all must be realised today.

An ambitious agricultural programme was thus carefully planned, formulated and closely coordinated by the Department ofAgriculture, under the auspices of the Ministry of Industry and Primary Resources (MIPR), with technical support and collaboration of several countries, such as China and Singapore but most notably from the Republic of the Philippines, through the Philippine Rice Research Institute.

This move was hailed by the local media as helping to bolster the existing deep bilateral relationship between Brunei and the Philippines. It is also somewhat poignant in that the technical assistance that has been sought after by the government and rendered by foreign governments around the Southeast Asian region, as the logo of the 10-member regional grouping, Asean, is depicted as 10 individual stalks of rice all held together through the umbrella of the 10-member association.

Four months on, as the paddy seedlings have now changed colour from green into a ripe and healthy golden brown, officials from MIPR have been busy travelling around all four districts to initiate the nationwide agricultural drive to coordinate and realise the self-sufficiency agricultural target that it has set for local paddy farmers to increase the country’s local rice production from 3 per cent to 20 per cent by 2010.

Aside from identifying the Laila rice variety as Brunei’s new hybrid answer to its agricultural goal, other short-, medium- and long-term measures have also been identified and refined as important pre-requisites for the nation to be able to successfully ensure self-sufficiency in its local rice production, as well as to have some tangible measure of food security for its future generations.

Agricultural lands have been earmarked for expansion from the current figure of 1,300 hectares to 4,500 hectares by 2010 in order to achieve the 20 per cent target in local rice production. Eventually by 2015, some 10,000 hectares of land will be duly allocated in order to achieve the 60 per cent target that has been earmarked for that timeframe.

In addition, improved farming infrastructure, utilising the latest fanning technologies and utilising new applications of high-yield rice are among the other measures that have been identified and are being carefully implemented in order to achieve the targetted increase.

Furthermore, MIPR as the main agency spearheading this rice self-sufficiency programme has set an increased annual yield rate of between 1.5 and 2 per cent, which will include the additional numbers in the country’s average population growth.

But among the farmers at the various paddy planting sites across the country, many have indeed praised the government for its technical support and financial assistance in helping them generate the required amounts by next year.

However, much more still needs to be done. For instance, irrigation still needs to be corrected at more paddy plots around the country to ensure a successful harvest. There are still insufficient farming machines to allow the farmers to plant simultaneously across the country. Most still have to wait for paddy transplanters, mist blowers and others as there simply aren’t enough to go around. If the government really wants to achieve the target that it has set, then it also has to seriously consider acquiring more machinery to do its noble mission justice.

But in all fairness to the government, it has been commended as doing the most of what it can with what it has at its current disposal. Many still understand that this is a relatively new project that it has embarked on. And for the moment, every stakeholder on board — from the farmers, the suppliers, as well as the Department of Agriculture — realises that the road to near-total self-sufficiency will be one of constant trial and error.

For instance, to ensure that existing local rice varieties, such as pusu, adan and bario are not left to proverbially rot at the wayside, the Tutong District has been identified as the district that will continue to plant these traditional rice varieties.

Furthermore, according to the fanners, they are currently receiving the 50 per cent rebate on fertilisers, chemicals and paddy seeds — as promised by the government — as well as the financial backing from the government, which is offering a support price of B$1,600 for one metric tonne of paddy.

All these measures will undoubtedly provide much confidence in the local farmers to tranform their current mindsets from amateur, “part-time” weekend farmers to more professionally- and commercially-driven ones, which will be another pre-requisite if their continued support is to be maintained and nurtured along the country’s drive towards agricultural self-sufficiency and national food security for the present and all its future generations.

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