Dr Rundi looked at the pamphlets while listening to the briefing given by the officers on duty at the conference exhibition.
MIRI: Sarawak must have a dedicated irrigation and drainage department (DID) for its agricultural sector to ensure that food security goals are achieved and run smoothly.
Sarawak Food Industry, Commodities and Regional Development Minister Dato Sri Dr Stephen Rundi Utom said the government is working to establish a DID as proposed by Sarawak Premier Datuk Patinggi Tan Sri Abang Johari Tun Openg for that purpose.
"Therefore, the Premier suggested that we need to have a dedicated DID for agriculture and we (the ministry) call it 'Farm DID' (DID Farm).
"Of course there are other DIDs (referring to the existing DIDs) that take care of drainage in the city centre and so on, otherwise we will face floods all the time.
"That's different. My ministry will take care of the JPS Ladang," he said when met by reporters after officiating the closing of the Palm Oil Conference, Exhibition, Technology and Management (POMTEC) 2025 here, today.
Dr Rundi said that in achieving food security, paddy was the one that raised concerns for his ministry because its production needed to be increased and at the same time, its environment needed to be improved.
"The government needs to use specific mechanisms, with that, we must have very complete and almost perfect irrigation and drainage.
"When we support something like a commodity, we must consider food security.
"Food security means that we can face any possibility of food shortages, at least for six months.
"So, here we are talking about rice which is a staple food and of course other foods as well, which may not be as important as rice," he said.
He added that currently, the ministry has identified 14,000 hectares of land for paddy cultivation.
"We have existing land for paddy and some of that land has already been converted to other crops that we have no control over (over it).
"The only ones that have been gazetted are in Limbang and Lawas," he explained.
To encourage farmers' participation, Dr Rundi said, the government is also providing incentives to help them produce enough supplies to complete food security.
"Looking at the situation, it is a production incentive.
"Production incentives mean the more you produce, the better the incentives you get from the government.
"In Taiwan, they have farmer organisations.
"They do the planting for the landowners.
"We can do the same thing.
"We have PPK (Area Farmers' Organisation)," he said.
He added that currently the self-sufficiency level (SSL) of paddy here is 32 percent and the rest is imported.
"BERNAS (Padiberas Nasional) does the importing for us but we want to reduce it.
"The deficit between imports and exports is RM5.7 billion, that is a huge amount of money," he said.
Touching on oil palm plantations, he explained that the government would not open up state land for that purpose following the European Union Deforestation Regulation (EUDR).
Therefore, he said, the focus would be more on Bumiputera Customary Rights (NCR) land.
"We want to develop NCR because we need to help the people in this state, at least use their land for a better economy, a better socio-economic situation.
"Until now, there has been no decision from the European Union (for NCR land), so let's just continue with what we have to do because that is our responsibility.
"Otherwise, there will be no economic return for the people in rural areas," he added.
Also present were Sarawak Ministry of Food Industry, Commodities and Regional Development (M-FICORD) Permanent Secretary Datu Sirai Daha, Malaysian Palm Oil Board (MPOB) Director-General Datuk Dr Ahmad Parveez Ghulam Kadir; Sarawak Palm Oil Plantation Owners Association (SOPPOA) Chairman Eric Kiu Kwong Seng and SOPPOA Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Dr Felix Moh.
