Farm visit by Biology students and Herbology club of Duli Pengiran Muda Al-Muhtadee Billah College

Briefing by the proprietor before heading down the field.

A few of the students experienced hands-on paddy planting.

Close inspection of Padi Laila.

A token of appreciation presented by Biology teacher Mr Sivanathan.

SRI - System of Rice Intensification

SRI is not exactly a new method of rice farming, nor is it a radical departure from the traditional method of rice farming. It was developed in 1983 in Madagascar and has been adopted by many countries all over the world since 1999. We are also not the first rice farmers in Brunei to use SRI but we are definitely, currently, the only farm in Brunei that is using the system and yielding great success both in quality and quantity of harvest.

SRI is a work in progress, with improvements continually being made, including better implements and techniques that further reduce farming input requirements. Yield is the most evident (and controversial) feature of SRI, so it is only natural that there are sceptisms that befell the credibility of the system, which is evident by the poor reception and acceptance of the system by our local rice farming community. But many other considerations are also driving the SRI's spread around the world. So through this blog we intend to share our success story including the trials and tribulations experienced for the benefit of Bruneian rice farmers as well as globally.

So what is SRI? In a nutshell SRI is a method of increasing production yield of rice farming while at the same time reducing the requirement of chemical inputs such as fertilizers, pesticides and herbicides, as well as reducing the requirement for seed and water (depending on rice variety).

By utilising the SRI system, we have managed to more than double the production of rice per acre. The local rice farming community can only manage to harvest about a ton of rice per lot (2 acres++ almost a hectare)...our farm produces more than a ton of rice per acre.

This is why SRI was scoffed at when the local rice farming community first learned that only one seedling per clump/hill is required for planting instead of the traditional 3-5 seedlings per clump/hill.

How can output be doubled by reducing input logic would ask?...but that's where the law of nature comes in. Put simply, the more mouths there are to feed the less food gets to every mouth and hence more food is required. Whereas if there are less mouths to feed more food gets to each mouth and the more tummies get bloated...

Then there is the question of space...there is very little oxygen in a box full of chicken than there are in a box with only a fowl. Based on our trials, we've concluded that spacings of 15 inches apart between seedlings is more ideal compared to using SRI's specified 10 inches to achieve the ideal yield per acre. As have been mentioned, SRI is a work in progress with improvements continually being made...therefore it is only natural for experimentations to be conducted in order to adapt the system to the local soil and land conditions. The wider spacing also allows for rain and sun to better reach the leaves.

Full info on SRI can be found at http://sri.ciifad.cornell.edu/.

Special mention to Dr Hj Sablee Hj Aspar for introducing to us the SRI system.

BERAS LAILA

Pengertian Laila

'Laila" adalah suatu perkataan yang bererti adil, bahagia, baik. Ianya juga digunakan untuk menunjukkan sesuatu kesayangan yang menarik perhatian, berkesan dihati, nyata kebisaiannya, menyerlah kecantikannya, merupakan amat baik, berkebolehan, amat cantik, amat elok (elok dipandang mata), amat segak dan bergaya (gaya yang sempurna), gagah, berani, tersusun rapi dan adil laila bahagia. Contoh perkataan laila yang digunakan untuk menunjukkan keistimewaannya adalah seperti berikut iaitu, laila perkasa, laila bangsawan, laila setiawan, laila dermawan, laila kebajikan, laila berkesan, laila insan, laila jamput, laila bihar, laila budi, laila setuju,  laila fikiran, laila wahai dan sebagainya. (Sumber: Pusat Sejarah, Kementerian Kebudayaan, Belia dan Sukan).

Beras Laila

Pengeluaran padi/beras bagi varieti baru ini telah diusahakan oleh Jabatan Pertanian dan beberapa pengusaha padi sejak tahun 2006 dimana didapati prestasi dan hasil varieti ini adalah memuaskan iaitu sekitar 3 metrik tan (mt) sehektar berbanding dengan varieti tempatan yang ditanam pada masa ini yang hanya dapat dihasilkan setahun sekali iaitu kira-kira 1 mt sehektar.

Varieti ini juga adalah dari jenis varieti padi yang rendah, tidak mudah rebah dan boleh ditanam dua kali setahun. Varieti ini berasal dari International Rice Research Institute di Republik Filipina dengan nama asal IR67406-6-3-2-3. Sebelum ini, Jabatan Pertanian merujuk varieti ini sebagai BDR1 (Brunei Darussalam Rice One) bagi pengenalan awal.

Keterangan Nama Beras

'Laila' merupakan bahasa Melayu Brunei yang bermaksud tersangat (perihal kebaikan, adil, bahagia, baik). Perkataan 'Laila' dipilih bagi memperingati titah pertama Kebawah Duli Yang Maha Mulia paduka Seri Baginda Sultan Haji Hassanal Bolkiah Mu'izzaddin Waddaulah, Sultan dan Yang Di-Pertuan Negara Brunei Darussalam sewaktu baginda menaiki takhta pada 5 Oktober 1967 yang berbunyi:

"...maka Beta selaku Sultan dengan sedaya-upaya Beta akan berusaha pada menjalankan dasar-dasar Paduka Ayahanda dan akan sentiasa memelihara keamanan, ketenteraman dan laila usaha bagi kemakmuran negara serta memelihara dan mengharumkan nama baik negeri Brunei Darussalam juga mementingkan laila usaha meninggikan taraf kehidupan rakyat melalui laila rancangan dan kesejahteraan perkembangan negara yang telah dan sedang dibuat oleh Paduka Ayahanda dahulu, dan mudah-mudahan dengan izin Allah, Beta juga sentiasa akan menjaga dan memelihara dengan tidak kendur-kendurnya laila usaha mengenai ugama Islam benar-benar dan Adat Istiada Negeri Brunei"

Keterangan daripada Dayang Mardiah binti Haji Ramli
Pemenang Pertandingan Mencipta Nama Beras
Anjuran Jabatan Pertanian
Kementerian Perindustrian dan Sumber-Sumber Utama

Ciri-Ciri Padi / Beras Laila

Ketinggian Pokok (cm)	95-100
Tempoh Kematangan (hari)	105-110
Kelas Kematangan	Matang Awal
Timbangan 1000 butir/biji (g)	26.2
Purata Hasil (tan/ha)	5.0 - 6.8
Bentuk & Saiz biji	Beras Panjang
Ketahanan Terhadap Zat Besi	Sederhana Rintang
Reaksi terhadap fotokala	Tidak peka terhadap fotokala

Beras Laila ini mempunyai nutrien mikro yang lebih berpatutan, kandungan karbohidrat dan serat (nutrien makro) yang rendah dan kandungan protein yang lebih tinggi berbanding dengan beras Hom Mali (Thai). Beras Laila ini juga setanding dengan beras tempatan yang lain seperti beras Pusu dan beras Adan dalam kandungan tenaga, lemak, karbohidrat dan serat manakala kandungan proteninya lebih tinggi berbanding kandungan protein beras tempatan.

Kandungan Nutrien (Per 100g bahagian yang dimakan)
Tenaga (Kcal)	353
Air (g)	11.3
Protein (g)	8.2
Lemak (g)	1.0
Karbohidrat (g)	77.8
Serat (g)	0.2
Abu (g)	1.5

Excerpt from DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE AND AGRIFOOD, Ministry of Industry and Primary Resources.

His Majesty consented to launch Padi Project known as "Cultivation of Padi Toward Achieving Self-Sufficiency in Rice Production in Brunei Darussalam"

Brunei Darussalam has set in motion a large scale padi planting initiative toward increasing the local rice production. This involves expansion of cultivation areas from the present 1,300 hectares to nearly 4,500 hectares by 2010 to achieve 20 percent self-sufficiency AND to nearly 10,000 hectares by 2015 to achieve 60 percent self-sufficiency. His Majesty Sultan Haji Hassanal Bolkiah Mu'izzaddin Waddaulah, the Sultan and Yang Di-Pertuan of Brunei Darussalam consented to launch the project called "Cultivation of padi toward achieving self-sufficiency in rice production in Brunei Darussalam, and to declare a new name for the local rice". The launching ceremony took place yesterday morning at the Wasan Padi Farm at Kampong Wasan in the Brunei Muara District.

His Majesty was greeted on arrival by the Minister of Industry and Primary Resources, Yang Berhormat Pehin Orang Kaya Seri Utama Dato Seri Setia Awang Haji Yahya, the event's chairman, and by the Deputy Minister of Industry and Primary Resources, Dato Paduka Haji Hamdillah. With His Majesty were His Royal Highness Prince Haji Al-Muhtadee Billah, the Crown Prince and Senior Minister at the Prime Minister's Office; His Royal Highness Prince Haji Sufri Bolkiah; His Royal Highness Prince Haji Abdul Azim and His Royal Highness Prince Abdul Malik.

The Minister of Industry and Primary Resources in his welcoming address said among other things that the cultivation of rice on a large scale represents an initial step in responding to His Majesty's Titah toward planning and implementing a national agriculture strategy and policy to ensure food security for the nation and people. Yang Berhormat said this initial step involves several approaches including upgrading of farm infrastructure especially of drainage and irrigation system, roads and other related infrastructure. These efforts also include the introduction of a high yield Padi variety.

His Majesty then proceeded to launch the project thus marking the commencement of efforts toward Brunei's phased targets of achieving self-sufficiency in the domestic requirement for rice, starting at 20 percent self-sufficiency by next year and declared a new name for the local rice BDR One, which is now known as "Beras Laila."

The Ministry of Industry and Primary Resources is striving to increase the country's rice production from 3 point one two percent self-sufficiency, which is equivalent to about nine hundred and eighty three metric tonnes presently to 20 percent self sufficiency or five thousand and eight hundred and eighty metric tonnes by 2010 and to increase production to 60 percent self sufficiency by 2015.

His Majesty then toured the seedlings nursery and to plant a padi variety researched jointly by Brunei Darussalam and the Republic of Philippines. His Majesty and the Philippine Secretary of Agriculture, the Honourable Arthur Yap, jointly planted the padi using the drum seeder. The government of His Majesty has provided nearly five hectares of land for this collaboration to cultivate seven varieties of padi. This kind of collaboration also represents Brunei Darussalam's efforts towards further enhancing cooperative relations with other countries.

His Majesty subsequently proceeded to join padi planting activity at a local padi farmers cultivation site using a moden technology in the form of padi transplanter. In implementing this project, the Ministry of Industry and Primary Resources would constantly monitor these agriculture development areas especially to ensure that farmers practise a sistematic padi cultivation management such as simultaneous planting in all areas as well as practise cultivation disease control. The demand for rice as a staple food in Brunei Darussalam is expected to increase abreast of the growth in population which averages between one point five percent and two percent annually.

This was followed with His Majesty visiting an exhibition on Food Security and farm infrastructure provision for the Wasan and Bebuloh areas as well as on research activities by the Philippines Rice Institute, Philrice. The government of His Majesty is aware that market prices desired by consumers and market prices needed by farmers differ. What needs to be understood by the population is that the government in endeavouring to balance the two needs shoulders a heavy financial burden in the form of subsidies. The subsidies that are provided directly are by setting suitable market prices and indirectly through various assistance in raw materials such as fertilizers, pesticides and machineries as well as other basic assistance the like of basic agriculture infrastructure.

RTB News, Tuesday, 28th April 2009

Photos and article courtesy of Department of Agriculture & Agrifood Brunei

The many faces of Wasan padi field "housing" scheme

The Classical
















The Canadian
















House of blues
















The minimalist
















Abandoned project

"MIPR looking for a name for new Brunei rice"

With the introduction of a new local rice variety, MIPR has organised a competition to name the new rice which is currently known as BDR. There's a cash prize of B$1000 to be had so I sent my entry as soon as I read the news.

http://www.brunei-online.com/weekend/news/mar14h24.htm

Plant it!

10-05-2008...

'Tis the end of season for the cultivation of Baras Brunei, and after a really good Pusu harvest it's time to cultivate other varieties of rice to fill the off-season gap. The off-season period is the opportune time to cultivate the faster growing/yielding rice varieties such as the IR64 Super Indonesian rice (medium grain) and IR74 Filipino rice (Beras Laila genus), both can be harvested after three months of planting and can be cultivated anytime during the year regardless of the season as long as water is available.

Continued cultivation during season intervals also helps curb overgrowth, meaning less work needed when it comes to prepare for the next Baras Brunei season.




With Brunei's considerable wet climate, there is ample rain for cultivating rice all year round. But as I've mentioned before, farming Baras Pusu outside it's normal cultivation season (Oct-Apr) will result in crop failure, as had been experimented by some of the neighbouring farmers.

Availability of water is crucial at the very most during rice planting. Just as plants go, the transplanted seedlings need to be kept sufficiently moist until they have grown hardy enough to sustain on their own (about 1 month+).

Seedlings also need to be planted firmly into the soil in clusters of 3-5 to prevent strong winds from uprooting them. Planting them in clusters will also lower the chance of crop failure. Planting in square foot grids makes it easier to move around when it comes time to fertilise and harvest the padi.

Tilling the land

Two seasons have passed since our first harvest, which yielded approximately half a ton of Pusu rice. Not a bad start considering only a quarter of the paddy field was utilised. The time it took to prepare the once abandoned paddy fields went even longer than had expected.

Overgrown with creeping vines, weeds and rumput lalang, it took several weeks of tromping/thrashing, spraying herbicide and burning before the soil was finally ready to be plowed and limed.

It cost $200 to hire tractors to tromp down the hardy vegetation and god knows how much carbon footprint was created by all the burning. All the more reason to continue cultivating the land after every harvest so that it will not be necessary to repeat the thrashing and burning cycle.

Farming rice does require the devotion of a full time job to be both ecologically and economically sustainable, and smart farming is the smart way to do it.

Rice farming procedures: A sort of systematic approach

August

• Preparing the Banih padi or paddy seeds for sowing is done by soaking the seeds in watery solution for 48hrs, by which time they should germinate.

• Once germination has occured, the ideal way to samai (sow) the seeds is by scattering them sparsely on a plot of plowed soil (possibly a nursery) and not to let them bunch up so much that it makes them difficult to dig out for transplanting. A better alternative is to sow the seeds in trays which will help facilitate transporting and transplanting of seedlings to the sawah (paddy field). The soil for raising the seedlings is mixed with ampas padi (padi husks) from milled padi.
  

• Transplanting of seedlings to the sawah is then carried out after 1 month of sowing.

• After a week from transplanting, fertilising with urea is then carried out to encourage the growth of the seedlings. This however also encourages the growth of weeds. Hence when the weeds start to sprout, Amien herbicide is sprayed to suppress the weeds. Feeding is most important and should be carried out monthly one month after transplanting by using Vitagrow organic fertiliser. Halfway thru the cultivation period (3 months for baras Pusu), fertilising once with fruit enhancing fertiliser (npk 12-12-17 + 2) is carried out to feed the by now already seeding padi.

• Six months later around about April, baras Pusu is ready to be katam (harvesting) once the seeds have ripened and turned yellowish brown. Family and friends come in rejoice to join in the mengatam activity.
  

Baras Brunei

Baras Adan, Bario and Pusu, among others, are native rice of Borneo. There is a popular misconception that these varieties of rice to be of 'local' baras Brunei. The claim to the moniker may be partly true though, since they are also traditionally grown in Brunei.

These traditional varieties of small grain rice, mysteriously, can only be cultivated once a year during the rainy season with a growing period of six months (October - April). Even with the climate change and unpredictable weather conditions that we are currently experiencing (blessed with abundance of rain on supposedly dry months), growing them off season will produce very little crop...if any. Hence, their seasonality and high demand makes it rather pricey; $12 se-gantang (3.5 kilos) freshly milled, compared to the subsidised supermarket price of $10-$11 per 10 kilos for Thai fragrant rice (baras tempatan $13.50/10kg sack).

Baras Brunei is an acquired taste. This is because the rice grain is small and some varieties are sticky compared to the imported Thai rice varieties. In the olden days when meals weren't as lavishly diverse as today's, Baras Brunei or Baras Kabun were simply eaten with dried salted fish or ikan masin. This was the staple food of many people in the olden days but probably a delicacy to many today (albeit served with other dishes). Some like it and others don't, and some even swear by its therapeutic properties. There was a story about a Singaporean who suffers from the 'popular' modern diseases; hypertension, diabetes etc. He came for a visit to Brunei and during his lengthy stay he acquired the taste for baras Pusu. Long story short with Allah SWT's will, his ailments receded and he's been 'importing' baras Brunei to Singapore eversince. Wallahua'lam Bissawab.

Theoretically, freshly harvested and milled rice is nutritionally better than rice that have been subjected to post-harvest processes required for export and the constant periodical pesticide fumigation while being kept in storage.