Sarawak is set to become one of Malaysia’s top rice producers within the next five years, aiming to boost national food security and reduce dependency on imports from countries like Vietnam and Cambodia. Premier Datuk Patinggi Tan Sri Abang Johari Tun Openg shared this vision during the opening of the National Padi Conference 2025 (Padi 2025), highlighting a successful pilot project in Gedong. There, new seed varieties, advanced machinery, and improved irrigation increased rice yields dramatically—from 1 tonne per hectare to 8 tonnes per hectare—allowing up to five harvests within 24 months.
The Premier emphasized that farmers’ incomes could rise significantly by adopting these modern farming methods. For example, over two years, the five harvests could produce 40 tonnes per hectare, greatly increasing profits for local communities. Sarawak has already allocated RM1 million in 2023 for irrigation projects and is prepared to match federal funding to expand these initiatives.
The state plans to increase paddy cultivation from its current seven sites to 14,000 hectares, with long-term goals reaching 240,000 hectares—enough to achieve self-sufficiency and export surplus rice to other Malaysian states. Efforts will include enhancing soil fertility using biomass-based fertilizers from oil palm waste and urea made from local gas, tailored specifically for Sarawak’s soil.
Sarawak’s strategy combines support for smallholder farmers with scalable commercial rice farming. Abang Johari called on the Malaysian Agriculture Research and Development Institute (MARDI) to supply more seeds to meet this expansion. “With 14,000 additional hectares producing 40 tonnes per 1,000 hectares, we could reach about 500,000 tonnes,” he explained.
He also urged stronger cooperation between Sarawak, Sabah, and Peninsular Malaysia to boost the country’s overall rice production capacity. Abang Johari stressed the importance of bridging research and practical farming to improve productivity, noting that with the right technology, climate, and land, Sarawak can supply rice not only for itself but for all of Malaysia.
“God willing, by 2030 we will be among the largest rice producers in the country,” he concluded.
Present at the event were Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Food Security Dato Sri Arthur Joseph Kurup, Deputy Minister for Food Industry, Commodity and Regional Development Sarawak Datuk Dr Abdul Rahman Ismail, Agriculture and Food Security Ministry Secretary-General Datuk Seri Isham Ishak, and other key officials from MARDI and the Ministry of Food Industry.
