There is a variety of paddy seeds, but the ones that have been suggested by the Agriculture Department for this year for the farmers will be, MR297, UKMRC, PUTRA, MR303, MR 307, MRQ76, and MR269.
Malaysian Agricultural Research and Development Institute (MARDI) has released a variety of paddy seed for Malaysia farmers, among of it is MR297, MR303, MR307, MRQ76, and MR269.
The advantage of this rice variety is that it is claimed to be resistant to scabies and can be one of the alternatives for farmers, especially in rice fields where there is always a serious scabies attack.
With the issue of shortage of paddy seed in Malaysia submerging again, the most affected farmers will be the ones who come from Kedah and Perlis.
If they couldn’t buy the seed, they might have to sit back on their paddy planting schedule for this year.
Muda Agricultural Development Authority (MADA), an agency under the Ministry of Agriculture and Food Industries, and Kemubu Agricultural Development Authority (KADA) will produce two planting schedules within a year.
The schedule is important to follow, growing rice need to be harvested every six months, not including for the farmers need to buy their seed three months earlier before the process of plantation.
The lateness in schedule can affect the business if other issues that can affect the plantation such as weather or water problem are considered.
A total of 43.2 percent of farmers in the Peninsula use the MARDI SIRAJ 297 rice seed variety introduced in 2016.
The MR 220 CL-2 rice seed variety was declared, in 2010, apart from MR 269 (declared in 2012) as well as MR 303 and MR 307, introduced in 2018 respectively.
CL2 consider a tough seed due to it durable but it did not prefer by farmers unless they have no other choice because the seed considers being expensive.
UKMRC is crossbreed rice produced by Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM) it has two varieties of high-quality white rice, UKMRC-2, and UKMRC-8, through meticulous research.
According to UKM researcher Prof Dr Wickineswari Ratnam, UKMRC-2 and UKMRC-8 were found to be able to yield 20% more rice compared to other species and both varieties have a low starch level.
Those varieties suggested has the potential and ability to give a good harvest.
