BANDAR SERI BEGAWAN, Sept 16 (NNN-BB NEWS) – Efforts to boost Brunei’s rice production, to achieve its national rice sufficiency targets, are gaining momentum with the use of high-yielding rice strains and the doubling of sites for commercial rice cultivation, local media reported on Sunday, quoting Brunei’s Minister of Primary Resources and Tourism, Haji Ali bin Apong.
The minister, at a ceremony to mark the second harvest of the “Sembada (188)” high-yielding strain, said that, a local company has successfully doubled the output to about six tonnes of rice per hectare for this harvest season, from its maiden season in Feb, since it was first planted last Oct.
Despite the success in doubling the output, the minister said, they are seeking more higher-yielding padi varieties through research and collaboration with various parties, including higher education institutions, locally and abroad, to get the best method of padi farming.
He said, the Brunei government is currently collaborating with a China-based institution, Yuan Longping High-Tech Agriculture Co Ltd, to come up with a hybrid that can produce an even higher yield. Yuan Longping is a world-known award-winning rice scientist, dubbed “the father of hybrid rice.”
According to the report, Brunei’s Sultan, Haji Hassanal Bolkiah, participated in the first cultivation of “Sembada (188)” last Oct and officiated at its maiden harvest in Feb this year.
