§ 53. Mr. T. Reidasked the Secretary of State for the Colonies what steps have been taken in British dependencies in South-East Asia to increase the acreage under rice by private and public enterprise, in view of the decrease in supplies from Indo-China, Siam, Burma and Malaya and of the danger of famine if the United States exports of rice fail to prevent it as they have done recently.
§ Mr. HopkinsonA number of major irrigation schemes have been undertaken in Malaya and promising results have been obtained from experiments in the mechanical cultivation of dry land rice, the use of high yielding padi and fertilizers, and better methods of cultivation, including tractors for deep ploughing. 35W Production has already increased from 340,000 tons in 1948 to 440,000 tons last year.
In North Borneo important irrigation and drainage projects are under construction. In Sarawak good progress is being made with the extension of wet padi cultivation, and the development of pump irrigation schemes. The aim is that both these countries should become self sufficient in rice.
Steps to increase the production of rice are not limited to South-East Asia and much is being done to that end elsewhere, for instance in West Africa, Tanganyika and British Guiana.
Following are further details:
Malaya
Production of rice in Malaya has risen from about 340,000 tons in 1948 to 440,000 tons in 1951 or about half the local consumption. £2½ million was included in the Development Plan for the expansion of padi land. This provided for the improvement of some 300,000 acres of existing rice land, and the irrigation of some 100,000 acres of new rice land. Nine schemes have been completed and ten are nearing completion. In five instances operations have had to be suspended indefinitely because of terrorist activity. Some 200,000 acres have been used for fertiliser experiments, showing a 7 per cent, greater yield; and another experiment, alternating deep with shallow ploughing every other year, increased yields by 50 per cent. Much promising work has been done on the problems of mechanisation on firm-bottomed clay soils. The use of mechanisation on peat soils is unlikely to prove practicable.North Borneo
Four years ago North Borneo was able to feed from local production only one in four of the population and the ration was meagre. In 1949, a good year, it was able to feed on a much more generous scale four out of every five. The estimated annual production in an average year is now about 25,000 tons of rice. Self-sufficiency in rice is attainable and remains a cardinal aim of Government policy.An experiment by the Colonial Development Corporation in the Marudu Bay area was unsuccessful and the Government decided that mechanised cultivation of rice in that area cannot be undertaken until further topographical soil surveys can be carried out. F.A.O. has agreed to provide a soil scientist, one of whose duties wilt be to prepare a soil map of the Marudu Bay area.Government is now concentrating on increasing acreage and yield in the traditional padi-growing areas of the Colony. In particular extensive irrigation projects in the Papar-Benoui area are being constructed.Sarawak
Annual production in Sarawak is now about 93,000 tons and total consumption 120,000 tons. High priority is attached to schemes for 36W increasing rice production, and there seems to be no reason why Sarawak should not achieve self-sufficiency in rice, with eventually a small exportable surplus. Much of the production is by shifting cultivation. Modern methods of cultivation are being introduced and the Governments are introducing new regulations which will give them control of all paid land. Experiments in the mechanised cultivation of deeper swamplands are disappointing but good results have been obtained on the higher land, and a pool of agricultural machinery is being formed for use on them. Encouraging results have already been obtained from a pump irrigation scheme in Paya Megok area. A similar scheme has been inaugurated in the Niah Subuti area and promises well.