JASIN (Nov 5): Melaka plans to set up a consortium to develop idle farming land for paddy farming to increase its paddy production, said State Rural Development, Agriculture and Food Security Committee chairman Datuk Dr Muhamad Akmal Saleh.

He said the consortium would be established under a state government subsidiary to redevelop the abandoned land.

"We will help to redevelop the paddy fields, so that our food security will increase. We have nearly 1,500 hectares of paddy fields in Melaka, and there may be a few hundred hectares left idle, which we will redevelop.

“Currently, many paddy farmers are planting on ​​a small scale, [so] the profit is small, which makes them no longer interested in planting paddy. As a result, the paddy fields are left idle. Through this initiative, we will gather all the paddy farmers under one consortium or cooperative," he said.

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