Essay On Importance Of Agriculture

Agriculture has long been important to Malaysia development because this country has humid equatorial environment, one in which temperatures rarely fall below 20ᵒC and where annual rainfall ranges from 2000 to 3000 mm. This is the main reasons why the Malay people especially carry out the agriculture activities. The type of agriculture shows strong ethnic identification. Tribal agriculture, mainly involving shifting cultivation as an integral part of the people culture, is characteristics of the remoter upland areas of Peninsular Malaysia inhabited by diverse groups, and lying outside the political and cultural mainstream. Peasant forms of production, both partly- commercial rice-growing and the growing of commercial crops which are rubber and palm oil on a small holder basis, are identified especially with the Malay

The paddy granaries development had been introduced in achieving this objective. In this regard, during the Second Five Year Plan (1961-65) and the First Malaysia Plan (1966-70), two large irrigation projects were constructed, that of Muda in the Northwest and Kemubu I the Norteast of Peninsular. With the upgrading of existing irrigation facilities, by 1970‘s the production target was revised to 90 percent rather than complete self-sufficiency in view of the high cost of production.. The priority shifted from the increasing production to enhancing farm income (Malaysia, Fisrt Malayan Plan, 1966-1960). The emergence of the World Food Crisis in 1972-74 saw a further increase in expenditure on irrigation. Even small scales irrigation projects were rehabilitated as policy makers once again strive for complete self-sufficiency. Plan were made to open up new areas for paddy planting at the rate of 20,000accres (approximately about 8,000 hectare) per year and to improve yields by 2 percent annually. By the