Bernama.com (Malaysian National News Agency), 7 November, 2006

Mardi's Fragrant Rice Is The Best

KOTA BAHARU, Nov 7 (Bernama) -- The government wants Malaysians to recognise the Malaysian Agricultural Development Authority's (Mardi) new fragrant rice as better than the imported grade from Thailand.

Deputy Agriculture and Agro-based Industries Minister Datuk Seri Mohd Shariff Omar said the fragrant rice dubbed as "Mas Wangi Malaysia" has less starch content and better than rice from Thailand.

"The rice grains are longer and they smell better, and whenever there is less starch content, it is always good for health," he told reporters after launching a rice promotional drive at the Handicraft Village here, Tuesday.

Mardi had developed the rice strain after a more-than-10-year study, by cultivating the clone at two areas in Kelantan and Kedah.

He said currently the rice was being promoted throughout the country to encourage Malaysians to consume it as a substitute for imported rice.

"If all Malaysians consume the fragrant rice produced by this country, we can reduce our rice import bill from Thailand by 30 per cent while helping local farmers to improve their income," he said.

He said the fragrant rice was cheaper at RM18 per five kilogrammes compared with the rice from Thailand.

"The people can get the rice from the supermarkets, and the ministry guarantees that it can be cooked in various recipes like briyani, nasi lemak, fried rice and chicken rice," he said.

He said more than 200,000 padi farmers in the country were encouraged to cultivate the fragrant rice clone, and the ministry would extend incentives to them from next year.

"Any farmers who can raise their rice production tonnage will be given a RM650 incentive against the existing RM550," he said.

They would also be entitled for other perks like fertiliser and pesticides worth RM240 per hectare, he said.

On the Padi Beras Nasional Berhad's (Berhad) move of slashing its offer price for padi by 25 per cent for produce in Tumpat, he said this was due to the inferior quality of rice coming from the area.

He said the farmers' padi was steamy moist and harvested too early, leaving Bernas with no other option but to lower its offer price.

"That is why we advise farmers not to harvest at night, and only do so when the padi is ripe as quality is crucial, otherwise they end up producing broken rice," he said.

Recently, scores of farmers in Tumpat and Pasir Mas staged a boycott against Bernas for the 25 per cent discount for their harvest.

They said the discount was too much even though the price of padi was raised by the government to 65 sen a kilogramme from 55 sen.

"I symphatise with them but at the same time I would like to advise them to take care of their padi quality," he said.

-- BERNAMA