SERVICE MODEL FOR RICE FARMING IN MALAYSIA

RICE GROWING is the third important agriculture sector in Malaysia reported after Oil Palm and Rubber. Rice (Oryza sativa) are the staple food in Malaysia for more than 33 million people. In recent years the use of unmanned aerial vehicles or drones have become an important tool for precision agriculture including for rice farmers in Malaysia. According to the US-based 1996 Association for Unmanned Vehicle Systems International reported about 80% of the future drone market is expected to engage in agriculture sector (Source: Association for Unmanned Vehicle Systems International, 2013). Drone platform offers opportunities to fetch a wide array of agronomically important datasets such as the soil analysis, mapping and detection of outliers, irrigation, spraying and planting of plants. In rice however that the above ground biomass which accounts for yield-related traits such as number of panicles, spikelet's or grains per panicle, percentage of filled kernels/grains, grain weight and others, cumulatively determine the yield potential of rice at a given growing cycle. Effective monitoring of yield-related traits is particularly important to gain insights into crop growth stability and yield. I have seen many operations in paddy area using UAV or Drones technology in Kedah and Selangor recently. This articles in "Anim Agriculture Technology" blog I share the info about the vice models for rice farming in Malaysia. 

From DOA report stated that the rice cultivation in Malaysia has a long history of being dominated by small farmers. Generally, they can be classified into five different groups based on the land hold area known as The Marginal (with less than 1 hectare), The Small Farmers (area 1 - 2 hectare) The Semi-medium Operators (Area covered 2 - 4 hectare), The Mediuk Scale Operator (with area of 4 -10 hectares) and the Large-Scale Operator (land area with more than10 hectares). From my observation in which for Malaysia the drone technology for agriculture is mainly employed in private sectors. Although the drone industry had established a broad niche of application in agricultural systems (oil palm mainly) where the impact on Malaysian rice farmers is relatively minimal at engagement in sprayer drones solely. Services like the use of sprayer drones are used to facilitate timely application of fertilizer, pesticides and other chemicals alike. Professional drone users do not hail from the farmers community. Spray drones are offered as service models and are mostly distributed in the high performing rice granaries in Malaysia (Tanjung Karang, Sekinchan area). Since drone technology is gaining attention, paving new directions in modern rice farming, more youngsters are pursuing technical courses which are readily available locally. For example, the My Drone Services offers technical courses (basics for drone user and agriculture pilot drone) on the handling, maintenance and management of drones. Similar courses (professional drone navigator) are also organized at the community college levels (eg. Kolej Komuniti Sabak Bernam, Selangor). On a daily basis, an average 10 l capacity drone could cover up to 10 hectares of paddy field. The charges are based on area size covered; RM12 - 20 (USD$2.70 - 4.50) for a quarter of an hectare. In a personal communication with local farmers (Feb 2020) in Tanjung Karang, drones were favored for the fast spraying efficiency which subsequently improved rice production via mitigation of pest, disease and lodging.

Thanks...

By,

M Anem,

Senior Agronomist,

Putrajaya,

Malaysia.

(August 2023).