Paddy Planting & Harvesting
Rice grows best in warm places. It is vastly grown on the Malaysian Peninsula. About 300,500 hectares on Malaysia Peninsula are devoted to rice production. The temperature regime and the rainfall distribution in the country are suitable for year round cultivation of rice. Most farmers however, plant and harvest rice more or less during the same period.
After the seeds are soaked in water they are ready to be planted. Rice seeds are then sown into special nursery beds before they are transported to rice fields. It takes three months to grow rice. Harvesting rice has to be timed right.
How Rice Is Grown In Malaysia
The rice field is usually ploughed twice before sowing or planting. After water is introduced, a round of puddling and land levelling is done.
Crop establishment can be done either by
- Direct Seeding- broadcasting pre-germinated rice seed directly into the field manually or using row seeder
- Transplanting - planting 25-35 day old seedlings into the main field by manual labour or by mechanical transplanter using seedlings sown on trays.