Paya Melong: Dungun’s Last Standing Padi Fields

DUNGUN, Feb 12 (Bernama) -- Amid changing times that have reshaped many agricultural areas, the Paya Melong group padi farming project in Kampung Minda near here remains the only actively cultivated padi area in Dungun.

Thirty-four participants work the 36-hectare site, most of them senior citizens who continue to grow the staple crop.

Project leader, Mohamad Ngah, 60, said the Kampung Minda residents began clearing the land in 1975 to plant hill padi.

The area was later formalised as a group farming project in 1990 and has operated continuously since.

“We agreed to continue planting padi even though all other padi fields in Dungun are no longer cultivated, have been left idle, converted to other crops or developed into housing areas,” he told Bernama in Kampung Minda.

He added that each participant cultivates between 0.4 and one hectare of their own land.

He said the participants currently plant padi once a year, treating it as a part-time activity, as most of them have other sources of income, such as rubber tapping, banana cultivation and collecting forest produce.

Mohamad said that for the new season, participants began sowing seeds last Monday and expect to complete the process next week, followed by other tasks such as fertilising and applying pesticides.

He said the padi is typically ready for harvest between 110 and 120 days after fertiliser is applied.

“This year we are planting the MARDI SIRAJ 297 padi variety as it yields better and is more resistant to diseases,” he said.

He said the project receives support from the Department of Agriculture and Department of Irrigation and Drainage, which provide guidance in technical matters and irrigation management.

Mohamad said about 100 metric tonnes of padi are harvested annually, with each tonne fetching around RM1,500.

Meanwhile, Norihan Hamzah, 66, said she and her husband, Abdul Wahab Kassim, 74, began planting padi in the area 50 years ago.

She said they cultivate 0.8 hectares of land and harvest about one to two metric tonnes per season, earning between RM1,500 and RM3,000.

However, she worries that padi cultivation in Paya Melong may one day cease as there is little interest among the younger generation in the village, including her nine children aged between 30 and 50.

“Perhaps the modest income and the need to work under the hot sun make it less appealing to them. But I sincerely hope the padi fields in Paya Melong will continue to be cultivated and carried on by the younger generation, with the use of new technology,” she said.

-- BERNAMA