PASIR PUTEH, March 23 – The Kemubu Agricultural Development Authority (KADA) will carry out cloud seeding operations next week as the rice growing areas under its supervision are currently facing a critical water shortage.
Its chairman Muhammad Husin said there is an urgency to save the rice crop which still has a chance to be harvested.
He said this year’s drought is the worst in history since the agency was established more than 50 years ago.
“The existing Kemubu pump is currently dry and can no longer supply water to KADA padi fields, causing most of the crops to be unable to be saved, especially in the northern and southern parts of Kota Bharu which have no other source of water.
“Given the situation, we will speed up the cloud seeding operation next week in the affected areas and areas where there is no source of water even though we previously planned to do it at the end of April,” he said,
Muhammad said KADA has held discussions with the Meteorological Department on the operation and some suitable locations will be selected for immediate implementation.
“We will carry out cloud seeding operation for rice that has been planted for almost 60 days because it is not possible to save newly planted padi,” he said.
Muhammad earlier said that about 34 per cent of the 26,833 hectares of rice crops under KADA is expected to be affected due to the current drought, including 9,180 hectares in the north and south of Kota Bharu.
The situation, he said, will affect the amount of rice production for the second planting season of 2023 which is expected to shrink by up to 25 per cent if the current temperature is at a rate of 30 to 34 degrees Celsius compared to the 212,000 tonnes in the first season’s harvest.
