Rice origins traced to Siam
Published on: Saturday, January 16, 2021
By: British North Borneo Herald
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Rice in Malaya has, I cannot say through the ages, but at least I can say for many years past, been one of those perennial subjects which can be always regarded as likely to provoke a strong expression of views in one sense or another.
It has formed the subject of innumerable newspaper articles, articles in scientific journals, books, pamphlets, public speeches, etc.: it has formed the basis of many reports by official committees, and has, at one time or another, seriously occupied the attention of every one of the noteworthy administrators who have graced Malaya with their services.
Judging from some of the contributions one might be inclined to think that the rice industry of Malaya occupied the position of the unhappy patient suffering from a serious complication of diseases who is in danger of expiring, while numerous specialists are deciding what exactly was the matter with him.
I think that this analogy is hardly a true one, for a study of the conditions of rice cultivation in Malaya convinces one that the industry is in many respects sound, and the very fact that it has, for all these years, survived the serious and strenuous competition of certain of its much more speciously attractive rivals, e.g., rubber, tin, coconuts, oil palm and a number of others, prove that it must have a survival value greater that some of its critics have perhaps been, at times, inclined to admit.
It has now become a commonplace saying that two schools of thought exist in Malaya with regard to rice cultivation.
The first school holds that while the production of rice should be by no means discouraged, and that every reasonable assistance should be given to those who are engaged in its production, nevertheless, the comparatively small pecuniary return which the crop is capable of yielding under normal conditions compared with other export staples, places it at a serious disadvantage, inasmuch as producers of export products are ordinarily in a position to bring rice in at a lower price than it can be produced locally.
Dependence on outside sources
The other school maintain that dependence on outside sources for food supply is, in itself, hazardous that a slump in the prices of export staples immediately decreases the purchasing power of the country and is likely to lead to a particularly dangerous position, inasmuch as then the pecuniary yield from export staples may be insufficient to purchase the food required: moreover, a shortage of rice in the exporting countries may well lead to a condition of crisis.
The truth of this latter view has more than once been exemplified. At the present time we are having a painful, though perhaps salutary, demonstration of the truth of the first part of the thesis, while the memory of many of you here will take you back to the years 1919-1921 when a shortage of rice in India brought about a direct loss to the Malayan treasuries of $42,000,000 plus considerable unknown sums expended by private enterprises.
At that period prices for export staples were satisfactory, and the country was able to face such a condition with fortitude, if not with equanimity, but exactly what would happen if a rice shortage in India happened to coincide with the present slump it is not pleases to contemplate.
It is this view which has actuated our Dutch friends in Java and our American friends in the Philippines to place rice production in the forefront of national policy. In the words of professor Copeland “ the economic condition which results from the supplanting of rice by export crops of other kinds is decidedly unsafe.
Let the market for the export crop fail, and the resulting condition is at once worse than the prevalent oriental poverty.
Stimulating Production
Government in Java, Japan and the Philippines has, therefore, done well in giving its keenest attention to stimulating production of rice. The market may slump as it will, where rice itself is the export crop, without serious consequent suffering. But where other crops must furnish the money to buy foreign rice, hunger may enter promptly when rubber, tobacco, coffee and tea, and copra (and, it may be added, tin, palm oil and pineapples) cannot be sold.
As an outstanding example of country which has faithfully followed the traditions, one may point Java which is the largest exporter of tropical produce of any tropical country with the possible exception of British India, and which is at the same time practically self-supporting in the matter of its rice supply; their imports only total 3 per cent of the total consumption.
It is thought that perhaps our Dutch friends may have been drawn away from this thesis by other attractions, perhaps not entirely uninfluenced by the example of her sister over the water, in as much as in Sumatra considerable areas formerly cultivated in rice have been planted with rubber, but I am told that, let us hope that my information is correct, a part of the rubber planted is now being removed to be planted with rice once more.
Rice cultivation is reported to have been introduced into Malaya some time in the 15th century from Siam. It first took its hold in the northern States, particularly in Kedah, and probably did not spread to the southern States until at least a century later.
Since the time rice production continued to make steady progress, I would like, if I may, to burden you with a few facts and figures concerning rice production in this country. It is estimated that the total area under rice in Malaya is in the region of 600,000 acres. It produces on the average somewhere near 200,000 tons of clean rice per annum which roughly represents about 1/3 of the total rice consumption of this country.
This production has fluctuated to some extent when times have been good, that is to say, when prices for export staples have been were bad it has on the whole increased; the indications are and I say indications advisedly, since prior to the year 1915 no reliable figures were available for the domestic rice production, that the tendency is for the production of rice in Malaya showly to augment.
This is perhaps a more reassuring thought especially in the present conditions of affairs which I have endeavoured to depict to you already.
Rice Cultivation Increased
That rice cultivation has, in spite of everything, increased is due to a number of causes; the first of them is that in Malaya are probably found some of the finest rice growing lands in the world. This statement may probably come as a surprise to some people, for it is commonplace to hear a statement made that Malaya is not naturally a rice producing country.
In point of fact, the reverse is true. On some of the best rice lands, yields have been obtained which are equal to those given by the most prolific yielding areas elsewhere.
Large areas of potential rice lands have already been planted up with other crops, but there still remains a considerable area which is eminently suitable to rice cultivation a valuable reserve and insurance for the future.
It is difficult, if not possible, to obtain anything like an exact estimate of what this area may be, but I think it is safe to place it somewhere between 600,000 and 1,000,000 acres. I think you will agree with me that this area constitutes a valuable reserve and insurance for the future.
Rice cultivation in Malaya is almost exclusively, at the present, carried out by the Malay race, and is most extensively practised in the Unfederated Malay Stated, particularly Kedah, Perlis and Kelantan. The ratio of production of rice between the Unfederated Malay States, Federated Malay States and the Straits Settlements in 6 : 2 ½ : 1 ½.
The impulse or the instinct which has inspired the Malay population to continue the production of rice in competition with the greater financial attractions of other staples is extremely interesting.
One cannot avoid the conclusion that it is born of the belief, at any rate in part, that by continuing to produce the greater part of the food which they require, the Malays are taking the soundest possible step to safeguard their standing in their own country, and to insure against those times of hardship which are the inevitable concomitant of too great dependence on export staples.
Wealth of Legend
The cultivation of the crop is overlain by a wealth of legend and superstitions point of view, but from a commercial standpoint are distinctly detrimental to any attempt of obtaining an accurate estimate of the economic cost of producing the crop, inasmuch as they influence the whole of the operations of the crop from the sowing of the seed up to the storing of the grain.
It is these beliefs, for example, which account for the persistence of the method of reaping the crop year by year by means of little Malaya hand-knives, the Pisau menuai, instead of with the more effective sickle.
This process is practically tantamount to going to the field and reaping each stalk one by with a pair of scissors: at least half of the padi in Malaya is reaped by this means. I am told that the underlying idea is that the spirit of padi is feminine, and as such requires gentle handling. (Laughter)
The sickle is considered too rough an implement to employ under these circumstances, and there is current a story of an elderly but progressive rice planted in one of the States who endeavoured to introduce the use of the sickle of her plantation to the horror and dismay of her fellow cultivation, who with difficulty were restrained from inflicting condign punishment on so presumptuous an individual.
So far as can be ascertained, when one eliminates the various factors born pf traditions, customs and superstitions, the average cost per acre of cultivation rice in Malays by existing methods is in the region of $30 to $35, and a return of 270 gantangs of padi per acre just about covers the cost of cultivation.
270 gantangs is about the average official yield for the Malay Peninsula, but I think the figure is considerable understated, and that the position on the average is rather better than is indicated.
Be all this as it may, the fact remains that at the present time the Malay rice is producing just about enough rice to keep itself in Malaya, and it is the foreign races which are, to a great extent, dependent on imported rice.
Improvement of Water Control
Naturally the question arises as to measures which might be taken to increase rice production in Malaya. The question is so vast and so difficult that it is impossible to discuss it in any detail now, while it literally bristles with controversial points, but there are one or two obvious points to which I can allude.
The first of these is the need for improvement of water control; this is really the beginning and the end of successful, rice culture with the exception of two schemes, the irrigation and drainage scheme of Krian and the controlled drainage system of Kedah, no large scale water control schemes have so far been evolved in Malaya though there is plenty of scope for this.
The major part of the padi is rain grown, and no provision exists for getting water on and off the land; the latter is just as important, if not more important, than the former.
To improve rice cultivation, improvement in water control schemes are essential under Malayan conditions; these must take the form of drainage and irrigation works, but in Malaya drainage comes first, although irrigation is, of course, so badly needed.
Malaya is fortunate enough to posses an ample and normally well distributed rainfall, and this, though it does not minimise the necessity for irrigation, at least naturally eases the situation as compared with, say parts of India.
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