On 10/06/15 my self accompany by Mr. Affandy, Manager of EPP11 Batang Lupar went to the EPP11 site to make myself familiarize with the works and condition of the site. NKEA stands for National Key Economic Areas, EPP 11 stands for Entry Point Project and the number 11 means it is the 11 point in the whole project and a longer meaning of EPP11 is Scalling up and strengthening paddy farming in other irrigated areas.
There area 12 NKEA's setup by Malaysia Government for the nation growth as shown on the figure below;
So our responsibility here in Bernas is at NKEA 11 (agriculture) and inside NKEA 11 there are 16 EPP and EPP 11 is our responsibility.
EPP 1 : Produk herba bernilai tinggi
EPP 2 : Pengeluaran sarang burung walit
EPP 3 : Mini estet untuk rumpai laut
EPP 4 : Penternakan ikan dalam sangkar
EPP 5 : Integrasi lembu di ladang kelapa sawit
EPP 6 : Replikasi i-ZAQ
EPP 7 : Pasaran premium buah dan sayur segar
EPP 8 : Taman pengeluaran makanan
EPP 9 : Pengeluaran beras wangi di luar kawasan saliran
EPP 10 : Penanaman padi di MADA
EPP 11 : Penanaman padi di kawasan jelapang
EPP 12 : Penambahan ladang fidlot
EPP 13 : Kluster tenusu
EPP 14 : Pembangunan industri benih
EPP 15 : Penyertaan syarikat multi-nasional
EPP 16 : Pengambilalihan syarikat luar negara/JV
Well, it is just a basic introduction as i am not really familiarize with the whole concept yet. Any who, i went for a trip there on the 10/06/15 till 12/06/15.
10 June 2015
Basically we just when there on the afternoon using Bernas's own vehicle and arrive the late on the evening, around 3 something if i am correct. I went straight to Bernas Subsidi office for some introduction where i meet with Mr. Douglas, the executive in charge and some of the staff (which i can't recall their names huhuuh sorry). After a short discussion with them all, i went to the hotel to check in.
Spend my night in Hotel Seri Simanggang which is the newest 3/4 star hotel in Sri Aman and the room are quite comfortable and easy to find food around the hotel. This is my 1st time staying the the hotel so 1st impression is quite okay.
11/07/2015
We started the day visiting Stumbin's Pusat Peladang Kawasan (PPK) to be introduced to the contractor company. They are the one who responsible in taking care of the fields, in terms of planting and harvesting, maintenance and so on. Harvesting is twice a year thanks to a new breed of paddy seeds that minimize its maturity time and increase its volume. The paddy seeds used for the project is MR219 and so far, the result is good. Managed to achieve near to KPI set.
We were accompany by one of the workers, Mr. Freddy as he bring us to the site for inspection.
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One of the earth drain constructed by the irrigation team.
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| Access roads from the main road |
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| Access road to the paddy field with large pipes on the bund |
After sweating it out in the open field, we head back to PPK office and i have a look around the office.
This is Kubota M9540 used primary for land cultivation. It is for the preparation of soil for sowing seed of planting to loosen or turn the soil. It is traditional by working animals such as buffalo and horses and the plough is made from wood, iron or steel attached with blade of stick to cut the earth. Using traditional cultivator, it will make the soil uneven which leads to higher oxygen in the soil which can unfortunately promotes the growth of weeds which increase the cost of maintenance.
This being said, using the rotary tilling will level the soil and with the introduction of water, it will give us good yield and reduce the amount of fertilizer at the same time. Let me add on, leveled soil will increase the efficiency of the rice transplanter.
The main purpose of the intent of modernize the current paddy field is to decrease the amount of workers and also energy when it comes to planting season. So, come along this guy. Kubota NSPU-68C rice transplanter and it is from Japan. It is a 6 row rice transplanter. Back in the days, workers use to go to the field and plant the paddy manually which increase the labor cost and time. Plus the arrangement of paddy might not be the best and very evenly distributed across the field but with this badboy, arrangement are symmetrical, even spaces and in order across the field.
This is my friends, the HarvestkKING, a very efficient harvester. No more you need to personally go the field and harvest it traditionally, this king can harvest up to 1250L(750kg) of paddy with easy and speedy unloading in under 2 minutes and full operations can resume quickly in minimal downtime.
12/06/2015
We went to the site again to take some rice sample from the area to bring back to Kuching. Nothing much going on at the day. We went back to Kuching in the afternoon. A great trip for me to atleast familiarize my self to the works that i am about to embark on!
ROCK ON!!
