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The Dilemma of Sekinchan / Sabak Bernam Padi Farmers
Media Statement
by
Ronnie Liu Tian Khiew
(Petaling
Jaya, Friday):
A group of padi farmers from
Sekinchan and Sabak Bernam have appraoched the DAP for help. They hope that
the price of padi could be raised to a reasonable level of RM 680 per tonne,
and revise the moisture deduction benchmark to the original 10%, and at the
same time lift the ban on planting fragrant rice.
We believe these measures will
certainly help all padi farmers in the country to better their income, and
at the same time help to cut down the import of fragrant rice and save
considerable foreign exchange.
Before 1997, padi farmers in
Sekinchan and Sabak Bernam were allowed to sell their produce freely to any
buyers; these include Lembaga Padi dan Beras Negara (LPN) and other private
rice mills. The prices of padi in the free market at that time were around
RM690-RM710 per tonne, and the moisture deduction was fixed at 10%. LPN was
buying padi from the farmers at market price at that time.
Soon after the privatisation of
LPN to Bernas Nasional Berhad (BERNAS), padi farmers have begun to suffer
both in prices and moisture deduction. Prices today are much lower than
before, and the moisture deduction has gone up from 10% to 18% today! The
unreasonable moisture deduction has also affected the subsidy entitled to
the farmers as such subsidy is calculated based on the tonnage of padi
produced.
On July 2, 1998, the
Agriculture Minister announced that padi produced in Selangor were not
allowed to sell to other states. Due to this ruling, farmers were forced to
sell padi to the only buyer in the state, i.e. BERNAS, at a lower price set
at RM580 per tonne. A monopoly was created, as there was no other private
rice mills in the state by then.
With the help of DAP Selangor,
the padi farmers sent a delegation to the Ministry of Agriculture on
December 24,1998. After the dialogue with the ministry officials, the
farmers were allowed to sell 50% of their harvest to other states. The
prices bounced back to RM 660 / RM 680 immediately after the new ruling.
This measure has somewhat crushed the monopoly of prices intended by BERNAS.
But just after only one season,
the Ministry of Agriculture set an unreasonable quota of purchase for every
rice mill in other states; as a result of no competition among the buyers,
prices of rice again dropped to RM 620/RM640 per tonne.
The
situation worsened when BERNAS launched a series of take-over of several
established rice mills, leaving a handful of small rice mills, which were
simply unable to compete. They were forced to follow the footsteps of the
bigger mills, and the chances of price increase were simply crushed for
good. The price of padi has dropped to an all time low this season, i.e., RM
570 per tonne. That is a whopping RM50 compared to RM620 last season!
On top of that, BERNAS has set
the moisture deduction benchmark to an all time high- 18%! It is estimated
that every 1.2 hectares (or 3 acres) of farm would have lost an income of
RM500 to RM 600. While the cost of farming has increased steadily over the
last few years, the prices of padi have dropped very much, plus the
ever-increasing moisture deduction benchmark, the padi farmers are really
now in a fix.
As the prices of padi were set
at such a low level thanks to the monopoly of BERNAS, the farmers have
decided to plant fragrant rice (beras wangi) which can fetch a better price
in the market. Some of the farmers have planted fragrant rice with
reasonable success. But their dreams were shattered by none other than the
Minister of Agriculture who once encouraged farmers to plant padi on
rooftops! The Minister banned the planting of fragrant rice on June 23,1999.
Subsequently in a letter and a notice sent to all farmers, anyone who was
found growing fragrant rice would be fined RM10, 000 or faces court action!
The excuse given by the authority was that fragrant rice might cause a
disease called "penyakit karah" (rust disease?).
The ministry made such
assumption without investigation on the padi samples. The question now will
be: if Pakistan, India and our neighbouring countries can grow fragrant rice
successfully without many problems for so many years now, why can't we?
Malaysia Boleh or Malaysia Tak Boleh? We believe such ban is certainly
against the law of natural justice and can be challenged in court.
Padi farmers are considered a
low-income group. They are now facing a real dilemma-the triple problems of
low prices, high moisture deduction and ban on planting fragrant rice. The
Federal and State Governments should look into their plight and predicament
and immediately find ways and means to save them from further hardship.
(20/6/2003)
* Ronnie Liu Tian
Khiew, DAP national publicity secretary
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