| Azaraimy HH |
LOCAL company, Syarikat Pakatan Mekar Hijau (SPMH) Sdn Bhd, is on the brink of providing another milestone in the country’s paddy industry by producing the first ‘certified seeds’ that will supply paddy producers in the country with high-purity, high-yielding paddy seeds.
Producing ‘certified seeds’ is not an easy task; the seeds produced by the company are subjected to stringent laboratory tests by the government to examine its purity. Thus, in a nutshell, to achieve this, the field that grows the seeds also needs to be closely monitored and controlled from weeds, diseases, pests and other foreign matters or variants.
Khairunnisa binti Haji Omar Ali, Agricultural Technician from the Department of Agriculture and Agrifood said SPMH is one of three companies that were awarded land at Kawasan Kemajuan Pertanian (KKP) Wasan by the department to produce ‘certified seeds’.
SPMH was awarded 10 hectares of land on July 7, 2014, and to date it is the only company that comes close to achieve the goal of producing the first Brunei-made ‘certified seeds’.
With their first successful harvest yesterday, SPMH Executive Director, Dato Paduka Haji A Jumat bin Haji Zakaria said the company is very confident that the seeds produced from the first harvest will be of certified quality during the laboratory test.
Syarikat Pakatan Mekar Hijau (SPMH) Sdn Bhd is the first local company to produce ‘certified seeds’ and it will supply paddy producers in the country with its high-purity, high-yielding paddy seeds. – AZARAIMY HH
Dato Paduka Haji A Jumat explained to the Bulletin that the initial plan was to begin planting six months after the land was awarded, but because of the challenges they faced, and unforeseen problems such as less desirable soil composition, the planting only started in February 2016.
Dato Paduka Haji A Jumat said the land used to be utilised by other farmers, where they grew fruits such as bananas. This has made the soil less suitable for paddy cultivation.
Through perseverance and optimism, after enduring and overcoming a lot of problems, SPMH was about to fulfill its mission to produce and supply ‘certified seeds’ to the Department of Agriculture and Agrifood for distribution to other paddy cultivators.
Dato Paduka Haji A Jumat was confident, that after all the efforts that had been put into place, and all the investments, the company will meet the stringent requirements.
A paddy cultivator himself, who also personally owned a paddy field near the area, he said producing ‘Certified Seeds’ was not the same as cultivating paddy for rice. He said, a lot of attention must be observed during the cultivation of the ‘certified seeds’.
The paddy field must be manually inspected by skilled technicians to see if there were any signs of foreign matter inside the fields. He explained that this is to ensure ultimate purity of the coming harvest.
Touring the farm facility with the Bulletin, he explained that first the seeds will be subjected to post-harvesting processes before the final inspection and evaluation are made.
He said the seeds will first go into a special drying facility or machine. The purpose of the dryer is to dry the seeds until its moisture content goes down to around 12-14 per cent. If the moisture is high, there is risk of fungi growth.
It will then go into a cleaning machine before packed into sacks. However, before the sacks are closed, government agricultural officials will take samples to the laboratory to be tested for purity, before being tagged as ‘certified seeds’.
To pass all the inspections and maintain the plantation free from pests and diseases was a great challenge to SPMH. However, with the experience and knowledgeable personnel of the company and support and cooperation from the Department of Agriculture and Agrifood officers the challenge was overcame.
As expected the yield from the first cropping at the site (SP2 Site), was a bit below the desirable amount.
However, Dato Paduka Haji A Jumat was confident that the yield performance will ultimately improve in the next cropping season. This is because the work to enhance the soil fertility is continuing. These include fertilisers and liming management, which will reduce soil acidity.
Dato Paduka Haji A Jumat also expected less pests and diseases in the next cropping season, as the company will make sure their next planting season will be synchronised with the other planting areas.
The management of SPMH conveyed their thanks to the Department of Agriculture and Agrifood at the Ministry of Primary Resources and Tourism for giving the company the opportunity to produce and supply ‘certified seeds’ and for giving the company continuous support and cooperation to achieve their mission.
SPMH said it will always be committed to support and cooperate with the government towards achieving the nation’s aspiration of self-sufficiency in rice production to guarantee national food security.
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