A 67-year-old civil engineer, whose passion for agriculture drove him to dabble in paddy planting for the past 30 years, has now embarked on a new project, planting organic rice on floating platforms.
Tam Pak Suew said his method has produced positive results as he was able to get double the yield of rice grown on the platforms compared to those that were grown on soil.
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Tam Pak Suew said his method has produced positive results as he was able to get double the yield of rice grown on the platforms compared to those that were grown on soil.
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NewsTranscript
00:00A 67-year-old civil engineer, whose passion for agriculture drove him to dabble in paddy
00:05planting for the past 30 years, has now embarked on a new project – planting rice on floating
00:10platforms. Tan Pak Sueo said his method has produced positive results, as he was able to
00:16get double the yield of rice grown on the platforms compared to those that were grown on soil.
00:22Initial infrastructure cost of developing the conventional rice farming is quite high.
00:30Because it needs a source of water, it needs infrastructure for the roots, for the irrigation
00:37canal, for the drainage, and of course, all these water control structures. And at the same time,
00:44they need maintenance. But in this way, the maintenance is very little. And then the initial
00:48infrastructure cost is minimum, as long as we can find some low-lying area suitable. Then
00:55we either build a pond or build a bund to contain the water with about 1.5 metres deep.
01:00That's good enough. To me, instead of developing a new area for the rice farming, for the sake of
01:08increased food production, why not we think of an alternative way, which is a shortcut,
01:15and then also much faster to produce the rice. Thum, who has a civil engineering degree from
01:22University Malaya, said his passion for paddy cultivation started when he met his wife,
01:28who is from Sikinchan, which is famous for its highest paddy fields achieved in the country.
01:32So of course, at that time, they were using a conventional method.
01:37So in a sense, that's why I said, if we can commercialise it, I think that would be good.
01:43Of course, there are so many factors that we have to consider. First of all, land availability,
01:50the cost of development and infrastructure, because all the rice fields in Malaysia are
01:56developed by government. If you want to do it commercially, so you have to start with
02:00everything on your own, that would be very tough. He says, with his platform method,
02:05he was able to do three times planting and harvesting annually, and the yield was also
02:10much higher. His floating paddy platform is similar to cultivating fish in cages on a floating
02:15platform. Each platform is filled with high quality soil and planted with about 550 rice
02:21seedlings, and the soil is constantly moist, and this helps promote the plant growth.
02:26Thum, who is the founder of Koref Desaru Leisure Farm Sendirian Berhad in Desaru,
02:31said that presently, he has about 19 platforms in his pond, which were all planted with Malaysian
02:36Agricultural Research and Development Institute rice variety. Actually, it can be any type of
02:42grain also can, but the thing is that most importantly, of course, the type of grain that,
02:49first of all, whether it can marketable, you know, good market price or not. So, of course,
02:54the most convenient one that we just adopt our current Mardi, you know, bread variety. Because
03:02there can be many other varieties as well, you know, from any other country also can, but
03:08most importantly is that they must be, you know, economically adopted to the condition.
03:14He also plans to try with other varieties, including red and black glutinous rice.
03:19Growing up in an estate with eight other siblings, he has been tapping rubber since
03:23he was nine years old and is the only graduate in the family. We have to work and feed ourselves in
03:30the sand. So, there's so many, you see. And then luckily that also, fortunately in the sand that,
03:37so I was the one that able to make it to the university.
03:42Thom's first foray into paddy was in his early 30s, when he was asked to rehabilitate,
03:46including doing land clearing works and irrigation infrastructure for a 607 hectare rice field
03:52in Kuala Rumpin in Pahang in 1992. So, after I've been there for almost six years,
04:00so in 1998, then we moved to Kaham. Small rice irrigation area, then we rehabilitated there
04:09about 300 acres of the land area there. Thom hopes the government would help fund his
04:16floating platform technique as it could be a pilot project. Actually, to me, if our governments
04:24can, you know, adopt a brief and new way approach, I think there's a fantastic hope
04:32in the sand. Because we got, we got sunlight, we got water. In fact, we got low lying area.
04:38So, it's a matter that the, you know, government have a location, you know, to develop this thing.
04:44So, it will be surely successful. Thom says he is willing to collaborate with local farmers,
04:49especially the young, wanting to try out planting rice via floating platforms.