Malaysia's Deputy Agriculture and Agro-based Industry Minister TajuddinAbdul Rahman has said Malaysia is capable of producing 3.4 milliontonnes of rice per year by 2020 at an average yield of 10 tonnes per ha,reported Bernama.

He said the projection was basedon the current production of 1.7 million tonnes per year at an averageyield of 5.4 tonnes per ha.

Although paddy land islimited, the production can be optimised through modern technology, anduse of high quality seeds and irrigation method, he told reportersafter opening the National Water Users Group Conference in Putrajaya onDecember 30.

He said the country's rice consumption of 2.6 million tonnes per year is partially compensated by imports.

Meanwhile, ministry's Division of Irrigation and Agricultural Drainagedirector Syed Abdul Hamid Syed Shuib said the Water Users Group was setup to smoothen water supply to paddy fields to facilitate doublecropping.

The ministry hopes every farmer will join the Water Users Group to enable rice to be cultivated in a big way, he said.

Currently, local rice production can only meet 72 percent of thepopulation’s need. The country has to import nearly 30 percent of thenational rice demand from other countries, including Vietnam andThailand .

According to the Vietnam General CustomsDepartment, the country exported nearly 764,700 tonnes of rice toMalaysia in 2012, earning over 403 million USD.
In thefirst 11 months of this year, Vietnam shipped 453,240 tonnes of ricefor 225.5 million USD to Malaysia and the figure is expected to reach529,000 tonnes by year-end.-VNA