SUNGAI PETANI: Life is getting tougher for padi farmers as they grapple with dwindling incomes following the sudden move by millers to mark down the padi purchasing price from RM1,700 to RM1,250 per metric tonne for the current harvesting cycle.
To rub salt on their injuries, the farmers have to deal with a whopping 70 per cent hike for padi seeds which jumped from RM35 to RM60 for each 20kg packaging.
"By right with RM1,700 we earn from each metric tonne of padi sold, plus the RM500 padi yield subsidy from the government, we should be earning a margin of some RM600 from each of 'relong' we toil.
"However, following the millers move to mark down the padi purchasing price to the floor price of RM1,250 per metric tonne, we are only left with just RM200 margin for each padi plot.
"We are already burdened by a high cost of living. We have children who are schooling, and families to support. Now, our income is dwindling despite rising cost of padi planting," lamented Mohd Fazirul Ismail, 39, a padi farmer from Bukit Meriam, Kota Kuala Muda here.
Zulkefli Ismail, 64, a seasoned padi farmer in the Kuala Muda Selatan zone expressed his disappointment with what he described as a sheer oppression against padi farmers.
"It is so disheartening that the millers mark down the purchasing price at their whims and fancies just as we started harvesting our crops.
"Some of the farmers managed to sell their crops at RM1,700 per metric tonne during the early days of this harvesting cycle before the millers suddenly marked down the price. This is unfair. We are very disappointed," he said.
Zulkefli expressed his concern that the cost of padi farming would increase further following the move by padi seed producers to increase the price from RM35 to RM60 for every 20kg.
"Despite the hike, we will have to deal with poor quality of padi seeds.
"At one time, I had to spend twice in buying padi seeds after the first batch that I bought were of poor quality. Yet, those padi seeds were accredited by the authorities," he said.
Dwindling income and rising padi input costs are just some of the headaches faced by the farmers here.
Mohd Yatim Ismail, 64, Sungai Emas Padi Farmers Unit head said they were also suffering losses due to poor irrigation infrastructures under supervision of the Drainage and Irrigation Department (DID).
He claimed that department had failed to properly maintain and carry out repair works on dilapidated irrigation infrastructures in the area.
"Some 400 farmers in Kampung Bukit Meriam, Kampung Paya, Kampung Teluk Emboi and Kampung Permatang Kuala suffered losses as they could not harvest their padi.
"The padi harvesting machinery could not enter their padi plots because the soil was weakened by the oversupply of water while in some areas, farmers were not getting water supply to irrigate their plots," he said.
Yatim claimed that he had raised the issue to the district DID office but was told that they did not have sufficient allocation.
Meanwhile, Badron Hisham Bahari, a board member of Kuala Muda Selatan Area Farmers Organisation (PPK) pleaded to Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim, Agriculture and Food Security minister Datuk Seri Mohamad Sabu and PPK chairman Datuk Mahfuz Omar to look into the farmers plight.
"The padi millers move to revise the padi purchasing price is a huge blow to the farmers.
"As farmers we are suffering losses because the sales value of an average four metric tonnes of padi for each hectare does not cover high production costs.
"Many of farmers are complaining. We do not want them to feel frustrated, to the extent they decided to stop toiling their padi fields. It will be bad news for our domestic padi supply," he said after joining some 70 padi farmers in a peaceful protest here today.
Badron also called the government to give a due attention to the Kuala Muda Selatan padi farming zone which is not located under the Muda Agriculture Development Authority territory.
"For example for this planting cycle, the DID managed to provide services for only half of the irrigation infrastructures in the Kuala Muda Selatan zone.
"The department even asked us to do gotong royong to clean up the irrigation infrastructures by ourselves. We really hope that the government will look into our plight because we are also contributing to the national padi production," he said.
He added that the annual budget for DID to be distributed among three districts namely Kuala Muda, Sik and Baling districts is far from enough to cover maintenance and repair works for irrigation infrastructures.
"Some of padi fields are not getting irrigation water supply, this is affecting our crops and padi fields," he said.
