Mafi makes early preparations for monsoon season

13 Sep 2022 11:24pm

Ahmad (five,left) with Entrepreneur and Cooperative Development Minister Tan Sri Noh Omar (three, left) during the North West Selangor Integrated Agriculture Development Agency (NWS-IADA) seminar at the Tanjung Karang Farmers' Management Institute (IPP).

TANJONG KARANG - The Agriculture and Food Industries Ministry (Mafi) is making early preparations to face the monsoon season at the end of the year.

Its Deputy Minister I Datuk Seri Ahmad Hamzah said continuous monitoring was carried out in high risk areas besides improving the maintenance of existing assets.

"The ministry has also instructed for the main canal area and paddy irrigation to be fully maintained to prevent blocked drainage," he said at a press conference after the North West Selangor Integrated Agriculture Development Agency (NWS-IADA) seminar at the Tanjung Karang Farmers' Management Institute (IPP), here on Tuesday.

Ahmad said all water pumps should be maintained and functioned properly in order to facilitate the discharge of water into ditches if floods hit the rice fields.

"These steps need to be taken immediately, there is no need to wait until the flood hits again before making preparations," he said.

Meanwhile, he said the rescheduling of water supply in NWS-IADA will be fully implemented from early January next year.

He explained that the rescheduling of the supply involved four Irrigation Service Areas (ISA) 1 to ISA 4 with an area of 19.8 hectares.

Ahmad also said the proposed change in the water supply schedule was due to severe water shortage during the second season in 2015, which had to be postponed for 15 days.

"I believe that it is hard for the government to come up with a decision like this, but through various levels of discussion with the highest district officials and dialogue with farmers and some local leaders, this is the only decision that could be made,” he said.

Ahmad said the purpose of rescheduling the water supply was to cope with the significant changes in the weather and topography.

In addition, he said, the government was also focusing on developing an adequate infrastructure network at the farm level which was an important element to ensure efficient management of water supply and increase the mobility of inputs and outputs in the paddy fields.

"The farmers involved are asked to adhere to the rice planting schedule for that season to facilitate the management of water supply support for agriculture.