8,000 farmers outside Mada seek seed subsidy

KANGAR: About 8,000 farmers working on 12,033ha of paddy fields outside the Muda Agricultural Development Authority (Mada) area in Perlis claim they are burdened with having to buy legitimate paddy seeds without subsidy at almost double the price.
Perlis Farmers' Organisation Authority (PPN) chairman, Tengku Datuk Aziz Jaafar said suppliers sold the seeds to the 7,982 farmers at RM52 for a 20kg packet as compared to the subsidised price of only RM28.
"They (suppliers) claim they did not receive the allocation although the government has announced an addition of RM25 million for paddy seed subsidy for the 2/2017 season," he told Bernama here today.
The 2/2017 season in Perlis starts in September and ends in January 2018.
Tengku Aziz said the farmers were forced to buy the seeds because they had ploughed their fields and did not want to miss the planting schedule fixed by Mada.
He said more than 1,340 farmers working on 1,899ha paddy fields had sowed seeds which were bought at RM52 for each 20kg packet.
He added 83,028 units of the 20kg packets of rice seeds were required for the entire 12,033ha of rice fields outside the Mada area in Perlis.
"I hope the government will promptly channel the allocation to the paddy seed suppliers to avoid burdening paddy farmers who will be forced to use the more expensive seeds." — Bernama