In school, we were always taught that rice is one of our country’s most valued agricultural products. We were also reminded that the bulk of our rice is cultivated in Kedah, the ‘Rice Bowl’ of the nation. But there’s no real understanding of the magnitude of just how much padi they produce till you fly in to its capital, Alor Setar.
Padi fields in all shades of green are stretched out as far as the eye can see. It’s the kind of countryside you always imagined Malaysia to be, with swaying coconut trees forming belts around kampung houses which pepper the sprawling green landscape, while hills in hues of blue reflecting the shade of the sky make for mesmerising backdrops.
I’m in Alor Setar to meet the team from the Nestle Paddy Club (NPC) who’ll be showing me how much work actually goes into producing what most of us take for granted — rice. The initiative, which follows a farming-contract model, is one of the manufacturing giant’s Creating Shared Value (CSV) projects. The NPC, already seven years in the making, is starting to change the face of padi cultivation in the country. For Nestle Malaysia, the mission to alter the industry for the better is born from a very important fact: the infant cereal they produce is sourced from these fields in Kedah.
GRAIN OF LIFE
The rice industry is said to be one of the most protected in the country’s agricultural arena. Even before achieving independence, policies for rice cultivation have already been set in place. As Rosnani Harun of the Malaysian Agricultural Research and Development Institute (Mardi) notes, the focus then lay purely in cultivation. “There were no significant support programmes especially in terms of infrastructure and Research and Development (R&D),” he writes, adding that while the British formed rice cultivation committees, the lack of support for farmers contributed to the low yields.
The situation improved significantly post-independence with the introduction of the Muda Irrigation Scheme and later by the various R&D initiatives by Mardi from 1969 onwards. Yet, in spite of policies and government subsidies, rice production was still not reaching its optimum level, directly impacting the welfare of the farmers.
In Padi Industry and Padi Farmers Well-being: A Success Recipe For Agriculture Industry In Malaysia, authors Zaim Fahmi, Bahaman Abu Samah and Haslinda Abdullah of Universiti Pertanian Malaysia point out that the lack of knowledge and education plays a part in the lower yields, while contributing to the increase of poverty among farmers in the agricultural industry.
PEOPLE MATTER
“The overriding purpose of Nestle is to enhance the quality of life and contribute to a healthy future. It’s a very simple message,” begins Yong Lee Keng, Nestle Malaysia’s long-time agricultural service manager. Having been with the company for over three decades, he has witnessed how important it is to look at the bigger picture. “We need to be there for the farmers and ensure that they continue to thrive,” he says of the Rural Development Plan under the company’s Creating Shared Value (CSV) initiative. “This is where we get our raw materials from so we need to see to it that they continue to earn a living and are taken care of.”
For Chong Chin Yin, the Agricultural Services Officer at Nestle Malaysia, the aim is to find better solutions and methods for the farmers. Chong, who spends a lot of time engaging with local farmers, shares that the biggest challenge they face is keeping their crop safe from insects and pests. Describing it as a major problem, he acknowledges that there’s a need for constant research. “We’re currently looking into soil nutrient management, the possible use of bio-pesticides and ecological engineering, among other initiatives. This is an ongoing effort on our part. Solving this problem would be a huge bonus for Nestle Padi Club farmers,” he says, adding that the whole idea behind the NPC is also to provide additional income for the farmers.
Chong and his team of collaborators, including scientists from top agricultural local universities, may spend time seeking solid solutions for this problem but many years before this, the NPC managed to resolve a more alarming issue — the emission of methane by unsustainable farming practices.
TAKING CARE OF NATURE
Rice production around the world, according to science-based magazine Scientific American, accounts for 13 per cent of global methane emissions. “With conventional farming, the padi field is usually submerged under a few inches of water, which produces methane,” explains Yong as we stand across a wide stretch of padi fields near Kerpan where the NPC headquarters is located.
Considered highly potent, methane is a type of gas which contributes to global warming. In conventional padi cultivation, the ground matter remains submerged, effectively blocking any oxygen from penetrating the ground. Having observed how the Semi Aerobic Rice Intensification (SARI) method had been adopted in places like Taiwan to increase the quality of the yield and decrease environmental impacts, Yong brought the concept home.
The method pioneered by Nestle Malaysia began with 20 farms in 2010. “The method requires water to be released only on the 50th day of each planting season, cutting down the need to use water by 40 per cent, thus effectively reducing the methane emissions,” shares Yong. The process, he explains, also makes the crop stronger and of better quality. With less water, the padi is forced to work harder to find the water source. To further lessen the usage of chemical-filled pesticides, farmers under the NPC are also given Agri-Organica, an organic microbial enzyme which reduces the need for the usage of pesticides.
GETTING THROUGH IT ALL
“Thirty-three years ago when I joined Nestle, we were asked to go down to the fields and find raw produce. And the keywords were quality and price — the best quality and the most effective prices,” recalls Yong. While the formula is still relevant, the way things are done has changed significantly. “The Nestle Supplier Code is something we take very seriously,” he adds, before warning of the need for accountability and traceability of how food is sourced.
As the biggest manufacturer of food in the world, Yong feels strongly about the responsibility a company like Nestle holds. “There are important stakeholders involved — consumers, the community and the silent stakeholder, whom I like to call Mother Nature. She doesn’t scream but when she does, you better watch out,” quips Yong.
The NPC was officially launched in 2012 but since its early days of just 20 farms, the contract-model has attracted many other farmers in the area looking to increase their yields and better their standards of living. The NPC now has 284 farmers and has extended to cover around 759 hectares. It may be a small number in the larger scale of things, but as Neil Armstrong once famously said: “That’s one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind.”