Kota Kinabalu: State Agriculture, Fisheries and Food Industry Minister Datuk Jamawi Jaafar said Sabah has around 25,000 hectares suitable for paddy farming, yet only about 15,000 hectares are currently cultivated.
“The remaining 10,000 hectares are uncultivated due to factors such as the age of landowners and a lack of interest in farming paddy fields.
“The State Government is now collaborating with private companies to develop mini paddy estates on a scale of at least 300 to 500 acres,” he told reporters in Kapayan.
He said six mini-estates have been established so far with this approach enabling paddy crop management to be structured more systematically, similar to other commodity estate operations.
Jamawi added that Sabah aims to boost paddy yields to between six and seven tonnes per hectare through mechanisation, suitable fertilisers and agricultural technology.
“This target is based on achievements in Tenom, which can produce between eight to nine tonnes per hectare.
“Current yields vary by region, with Trusan Sapi recording around four tonnes per hectare, while the Kota Belud Rice Bowl yields around five tonnes,” he said.
He said besides expanding paddy acreage, yield improvements depend heavily on adopting technology and appropriate agricultural inputs.
“These efforts are crucial to raising Sabah’s rice self-sufficiency level (SSL) to at least 30 per cent and reducing reliance on imports.
“The current situation poses concerns should geopolitical conflicts or wars arise, which could disrupt rice shipments into Sabah,” he said.
Currently, local production meets only 19 per cent of Sabah’s rice requirement, with the remainder dependent on imports from Thailand, Vietnam and India.
